The Quest for Happiness
by vani12
Summary: Two years after the Second Wizarding War Ginny Weasley feels numb, unhappy and stuck in a job she doesn't want and a relationship that doesn't fulfill her. After a drunken night in a pub with a handsome man, Ginny begins to rebel against the expectations of the Wizarding world and changes her life. Will her affair with the mysterious Sage Prince bring her happiness? And who is he?
1. Prologue - Blissful Happiness

_Author's Note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _this is my first fanfiction in English and as English isn't my first language, I hope that you can excuse some mistakes in grammar or spelling. I vow to check each text before posting it, but mistakes can still occur. If you find anything too obvious and disturbing, I encourage you to point it out to me, because I can only improve, if I know my mistakes. Regardless of this writing insecurities, I would like to tell you more about my story whose idea popped up in my mind today. I always love stories that reserve a happy ending for my favorite character, Severus Snape. And today I thought "Well, why don't you write your own story?". So, I started typing this. Let be warned that the story is very AU, non-canon and only for adult readers because it contains detailed descriptions of sexual and violent nature and darker themes like depression, self-harm, and self-hate. It's inspired by many wonderful fanfictions that I have read, but the storylines and characterizations of my characters arise from my mind. I hope you enjoy reading it and leave me some reviews as feedback. It will play after the Second Wizarding War that Severus Snape survived. The main protagonists are Ginny Weasley and Severus Snape (pairing GW/SS). If you don't like this pairing, please refrain from reading it._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 _ **Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, which belongs exclusively to J.K. Rowling. I don't earn any money from writing it.**_

 **Prologue – Blissful Happiness**

 _ **Prince Cottage, Cornwall, March 2002**_

Ginny Weasley opened her sleepy eyes slowly, tightened her embrace on her blissfully sleeping lover and smiled happily seeing the sun shine through the window and hearing the birds chirp their own tunes. Ginny loved waking up like this. Listening to the sound of nature, being woken up by the first sunbeams of the day and feeling the body heat of her lover. The smell of sweat, sex and the unique scent of her love, a unique and intoxicating combination of sandalwood, herbs, and mint, lingered in the air. A pink blush graced her cheeks as memories of the previous night of passion penetrated her mind. She turned her head around, let her sheet fall beneath her naked rosy breasts and studied her sleeping lover with adoration. He looked so young and handsome, his sweaty, shortened midnight-black hair clung to his forehead, his luscious, pale lips stood lightly open and his royal, straight nose gave his face character. All wrinkles, frowns and aging lines were washed away. His black satin sheets only sparely covered him, so that she could admire his lean packed with subtle muscles body. She could not take her amber-brown eyes away from his hairless toned chest, his rock-hard six-pack and the little black hairline that went from his navel to his well-endowed male genitals. His pale, muscular and covered with fine black hair legs were intertwined with her own pale, creamy white legs and his pale, strong arms held her in a tight embrace. Ginny could feel his morning erection pocking in her soft stomach and a new wave of lust rushed through her. Sometimes she couldn't believe how a simple touch with his long pale and spidery fingers, a deep gaze from his beautiful onyx-black eyes or a whispered word in his deep husky baritone could turn her on so easily. Ginny, as an independent, beautiful and straightforward young witch in her early twenties, hadn't been a blushing virgin and stranger to sex before she had engaged in her affair two years ago. She had lost her virginity to her boyfriend Dean Thomas in her fifth year in Hogwarts, had had an awkward motivated by the fear of the Final Battle and a cry for comfort one-night stand with Neville Longbottom and a loving filled with tons of enthusiastic sex and sexual experiments teenage-romance with the boy of her dreams Harry Potter. But her sexual interactions with her secret lover showed her the true meaning of making love, becoming one and enjoying oneself. He was so gentle, selfless and passionate during their love sessions that she often cried tears of joy and experienced multiple mind-blowing orgasms. He knew exactly which spot he needed to touch to drive her crazy or in which angle to penetrate her vagina to drive her over the edge. But the part she loved the most about their trysts wasn't the mind-boggling satisfying and creative sex or his very talented generous tongue in oral sex, but the moment when they reached their peaks while screaming each other's names and looking deep in each other's eyes. In these moments, as amber-brown met onyx-black and their tongues were interlocked in passionate, heartrate-quickening kisses, she believed that they could see in each other's souls and read each other's minds. She knew that he could understand her like no other human being on the earth and that he loved as well as accepted her as the human she was. With all her flaws, imperfections, and insecurities, her dark thoughts and actions that sometimes threatened to consume her he still loved and understood her endlessly. He cheered her up with jokes when she was sad, comforted her with whispered soft-spoken encouragements, declarations of love and positive words when she cried and listened closely with an open mind and sympathetic ear to her sorrows. But he wasn't only her champion in darker times, he also was her first supporter in happier times. He celebrated her successes with a romantic candlelight dinner when she designed a praised fashion collection, danced with and hugged her like crazy when she received some good news and encouraged her ideas and research topics when she eagerly planned new fashion lines. Ginny sometimes couldn't believe how much her life had changed in the past two years and at what a happy and self-independent stage in her life she was now. Two years ago, she had felt numb, unhappy and stuck in a dead end. Now she felt loved, safe and perfectly happy. If somebody told her sixteen-years-old self that she would find the love of her life in her sourly, sarcastic, cruel and dark Potions Master, she would have enacted an emergency Patronus and let this person be checked out by the psychological healers of St. Mungo's. But Ginny wasn't her sixteen-years-old self anymore and she was so grateful for her romance with Severus Snape. Naturally, they had had to master some difficult times, obstacles and issues in the past and their relationship would certainly face some challenges in the future. But Ginny knew that their love could survive anything. Ginny's thoughts were interrupted by a soundly wet kiss on her lips, followed by a sleepy "Good morning, my love" and a heated lustful gaze out of onyx-black eyes. She couldn't stop herself from snogging the daylights out of her love, straddling his hips and initiating another round of passionate lovemaking. Her life really was pure bliss.


	2. Chapter 1 - An unhappy life

_Author's Note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another short update to show a better outline of the storyline. I hope you enjoy it and leave some reviews._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 1 - An unhappy life**

 _ **Office Department of Magical Inter-Countries Relationships, Ministry of Magic, January 2000**_

Ginny Weasley sat with a bored expression behind her desk and sorted some papers. She really hated her job because it was so uncreative, monotone and meaningless. Sure, it paid her bills, made her parents proud and gave her the impression of being a self-independent strong woman who had her life under control and knew what she wanted. But her job as a secretary to a ministry official in the "Department of Magical Inter-Countries Relationships" was a stopgap solution, something to please her parents and to lull her boyfriend Harry into a false sense of stability. Sure, if she worked hard enough, established a social network of supporters and contacts and proved herself a competent communicator, she could get a promotion, earn more money and go places in the Ministry. But Ginny didn't want to put all her efforts into her job and be stuck in an office for the rest of her life. She wanted to be creative, meet new and interesting people and create something new. As the seventh child and only girl in a poor family, Ginny had needed to come to terms with well-used hand-me-downs from her elder brothers or second-hand clothes from her female cousins that often weren't very beautiful, unique or trendy. But Ginny had known from a young age that she should be grateful for having a loving family, caring friends and a chaotic house full of action and life, so she never complained about the state of her clothes.

Instead, she had researched ways to optimize her basis and create something beautiful and fashionable out of her ugliest shirts, jeans, and dresses. She had researched in many books about Designing, Decorating, Sewing, Dyeing and Brightening Up Spells, learned their magic formulas, intonations, and wand movements and had put them to use on her clothes. With time she had learned more about fashionable cuts, materials, colors, and garments, read more about color and material combinations as well as the differences between Muggle fashion and Wizarding fashion and had altered her items with more courage and grace. Beyond that, she had started to design her own clothes from scratch by detailed, colorful and unique fashion sketches. She loved drawing since she had been a little girl and received praise from everyone for her lovely, colorful drawings of fantasy animals, her family or magical items. Everyone praised her talent and precession for details so that her fashion sketches naturally looked like something out of the Muggle fashion magazines that Hermione had loaned her. Although Ginny hadn't been able to afford many trendy materials or paints with her meagerly pocket money and she hadn't had much time at Hogwarts for designing thanks to schoolwork, Quidditch and being a Prefect, she had put a vast amount of her free time with a happy and contagious enthusiasm into fashion design.

Home at the Burrow, she had built her little fashion atelier into a corner of her small room. She had financed her design articles like a variety of materials, threads, needles, scissors, colors, mannequins, a sewing table, and a well-pad stool by gratuities from her birthdays or Christmas and self-designed clothing articles that she had managed to sell for some Gallons to her girlfriends. In her summer vacations, she had spent most of her time drawing new fashion sketches, studying new fashion trends, learning new fashion spells and designing clothes on demand of her friends. Her mother complimented her for her eye for colors and true to types (age, complexion, figure) cuts and her friends loved getting fashion advice from her and wearing her clothes. Hermione had presented her with Muggle fashion books for each of her birthdays that inspired her with new trends and clothing items. Although Ginny loved the more casual, risky and modern way of Muggle women to dress, she appreciated the simplicity, speed, and seemingly endless opportunities for designing clothes with magic. With a few spells, she could transfigure a loose, basic white T-shirt into a form-hugging, Bordeaux red top with a glittery butterfly design or a plain, black Wizarding robe into a gorgeous, breath-taking petrol ball gown with a deep-cut back and lace ruffles. Naturally, she needed to conserve the adjustments with an Everlasting Spell and protect them with a Transfiguration-Blocking Spell, because otherwise the changes would dissolve after an amount of time or be open for other transfigurations, but she was able to create new fashion from practically everything with a few swishes of her wand. She had even been able to protect her designs against fire, water, air, damages, and dirt with a few easy spells and to show her designs in a 3D-animation to her girlfriends. In these 3D-animations that materialized themselves in front your eyes, she could even use a virtual, identical projection of her friends as mannequins for e.g. a dress to determine which cuts, colors, styles and decorations they liked the most and were true to their type.

In short, since her teenage years, Ginny dreamed of a successful career as a magical fashion designer that combined Muggle styles with Wizard styles. Ginny had even saved some money from her grandaunts and her work as a private tutor in Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense against the Dark Arts to be able to afford herself studies in fashion design and economy in the well-known and renowned University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London. But the Second Wizarding War with its painful losses, destructions and physical as well as psychological traumata had destroyed her ambitions plans of owning her own fashion label "Gorgeous" in the future.

The death of her beloved brother Fred, the disfiguring and infection with werewolf characteristics of her brave eldest brother Bill, the rift with her self-righteous brother Percy, the fears about the safety as well as the surviving of the Golden Trio and the murder of the demented Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange by her mother in a case of self-defense and defense of her daughter had affected her family heavily. These highly emotional incidents and life-changing actions left deep scars, fears, and grief in every Weasley family member including Hermione and Harry. George was without his twin Fred a shell of his former mischievous self. He had closed himself up to his family and stopped joking around the first months after the war and only psychological therapy, the existence of their joke shop and his growing romance with Angelina Johnson let him move on. Percy had felt guilty for not sticking around with his family and being a git so that he had tried very hard to be the perfect model son and reconnect with his family again. Bill had tried to mask his grief and distress about his new werewolf skills by being the strong rock for his family and his beloved wife Fleur gave him something to look forward to. At the moment, they were expecting their first child. A daughter that they wanted to name "Victoire" to honor the sacrifices of the dead and injured in the War for the victory of the Light. But in the first year after the War, you had been able to see his fear for the safety and health of his family in his over-protectiveness.

Charlie had masked his hurt and grief behind a mask of new beginnings. He had moved back to Britain and worked as a magizoologist in Scotland. He visited his family as often as he could because he felt guilty for his missed presence and feared for the sanity of his mother. Ron had tried to mask the horrors of the Horcrux hound and his sorrow behind focusing on his new romance with Hermione and securing a career as an Auror. His mask only cracked when he saw his mother reduced to tears. Hermione had tried to forget her sacrifices in the war and the loss of her parents whose memories she sadly hadn't been able to restore til now by excelling in Hogwarts and fighting for the rights of underprivileged wizards and magical creatures. She visited a psychologist to assimilate the horrors of the war, her new status as a celebrity and her guilt regarding her Memory Spell. She did cope well enough, but sometimes you could see the light fading out of her eyes and she was lost in her own world of regrets. Her dad Arthur had assimilated the death of Fred by helping George manage "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" part-time and reminiscing with his wife Molly about the past. He held the family together and supported his beloved wife through her battle with depression, guilt and grief. Ginny really admired him for his strength, but loved him even more for showing everyone that is was only natural to cry, grieve and struggle with life after the war. His understanding, compassion and positive outlook in the future was unique.

Her mum Molly had gone into a psychological coma right after the war. Her soul had been split in tiny fragments by the death of her beloved son Fred, her fears for the lives of her family and the guilt of taking a life, albeit it had been in defense of her loved ones. After her immediate break-down, she had tried to function as ordinary for her family by being the loving mum, brilliant cook, and bossy wife, although she had felt numb and moved like a robot. Three months after the funeral of Fred, her brave face had crumbled to the ground as she heard one of Fred's favorite songs on the radio. Since then, she was battling a severe depression, survivor's guilt and immense pain in her heart with the help of psychological support, the love of her family and the prospect of being a grandma. She couldn't be the same vibrant, fierce and constantly beaming Molly Weasley ever again because she needed to have her whole family nearby, know about their whereabouts constantly and clung to her children like a desperate, over-protective mother-hen so that her fears and sorrows often mellowed her smiles.

In part out of fear for her mum and to charm a smile onto her face, Ginny didn't live her dream of studying fashion design and economy in London, but worked as a secretary in the Ministry, for she was able to visit her mother more often and spend her lunch breaks with her Dad, Hermione, Percy and sometimes Ron and Harry. She needed to feel close to her family because the death of Fred had rippled her core and installed the belief in her mind that her family mattered above anything else - including her dreams. Besides, she hadn't been able to afford the expensive university in London and in the first year after the horrors of the war, she hadn't been able to design something new or draw new beautiful and creative fashion sketches because her inspiration had vanished. Her dream of an own fashion label seemed impossible to reach. She couldn't ask her parents for money because they had used every Knut they had saved for rebuilding the Burrow. Besides that, as a fashion designer who felt numb, lifeless and meaningless she wouldn't be able to dress anybody. So, Ginny had focused on finishing her education in Hogwarts with top marks, enjoying her fresh romance with her dream-boy Harry Potter and securing a job that paid her bills, established her image as a self-independent woman and fulfilled the expectations of the Wizarding World.

But inside her heart, Ginny had noticed after a year and a half that her fairytale with her Prince Harry had been an illusion. Except for the first year, in which they tried to forget their sorrows by throwing themselves in a passionate love and sex-filled teenage romance and measure up to the expectations of their happily ever after by playing the happy couple, they had lost their love for each other in fights, petty arguments, and false assumptions. Perhaps, their romance had been doomed from the beginning because Harry hadn't assimilated his near-death experience, his sacrifices to secure the victory over Voldemort, his lost loved ones, his celebrity status and fame as the Savior and his mixed emotions of grief, sorrow, guilt, relief, luck, and for happiness. He had been focused on his redemption by being the best Auror in history and helping restore the Wizarding World. He had forgotten how to pay attention to the emotions of others because he had to be able to move forward by masking his emotions behind a mask of indifference and appearance of being okay. On this path, he had lost his ability to empathize with others. He didn't talk with Ginny about his fears and sorrows because he didn't want to load his demons on her fragile shoulders.

Instead, he had bottled everything up, lost his connection to Ginny and, with his stressful and time-consuming training as an Auror added to the mix, didn't know how to act around Ginny anymore. They had drifted slowly, but steadily apart, so that they now didn't live together like lovers, but like brother and sister. Ginny was burdened by her failed unhappy relationship to Harry, her unsatisfying job and her unresolved psychological issues like her self-doubt, self-loathing and inferiority complex so much, that she had difficulties to sleep and couldn't look in the mirror anymore. She desperately needed an escape from her sorrows and a way out of her unhappy relationship without hurting Harry too much and disappointing her family. She vowed that she would work on being happy tomorrow. Tonight she would drown her sorrows in alcohol.


	3. Chapter 2 - A new life

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you, in which you will meet Sage Prince. I hope that you enjoy reading my story. Your reviews are as always appreciated._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 2 - A new life**

 _ **Luxury apartment, London, January 2000**_

Sage Prince stood in his luxury furnished in the latest style apartment in front of his floor-to-ceiling windows sipping slowly on his bourbon whiskey, enjoying his rich spicy-sweet fruit flavor underlined by a layer of caramel and vanilla and looking with his piercing onyx-black eyes over the busy London traffic. He couldn't believe how much his life had changed in the last two years. He felt reborn like a new person, although his old demons and vices constantly haunted him in his nightmares. He wasn't able to forget the faces of the dead, injured, tortured, disfigured, traumatized or orphaned witches and wizards or Muggles. His immense survivors-guilt, regrets and guilt for his despicable inhumane deeds as a Death Eater didn't let him close his eyes at night. He was addicted to a light self-developed and only with his genetics in mind composed sleeping potion that covered the faces of his victims and the people he hadn't bee able to save like a soft blanket and let him function daily. Every time he read about a war orphan without any support who missed his parents terribly, a widowed mother of tree without the income of her deceased husband who couldn't pay her bills or a crippled warrior without a job who tried to numb his pain and despair with alcohol in the newspapers, he felt an overwhelming guilt for his past actions, his new life in luxury and his booming potions company "The Prince's Perfect Potions". In these moments, he wasn't able to face a mirror and wished that he had died in the war too. If these innocent good people with pure hearts had to suffer, why did an old cruel bastard like him with a dark soul deserve a second chance? Why did he, who had tormented or killed Muggles for fun or to gain the favor of the madman Tom Riddle in his youth, who had betrayed the love of his life Lily Evans to be accepted and gain more power or who had poisoned many promising witches and wizards as well as their children with his deadly self-invented cure-, odor- and colorless potions, get a fresh start? He had not only been a sadistic inhumane monster in his youth, but he had also felt no regrets for reducing a student to tears, mocking a failed potions brewer in front of a whole class or bullying the boy wonder of the wizarding world Harry Potter as a teacher.

After many therapy sessions with a Muggle psychologist, he had realized that the death of the love of his life Lily Evans, his only friend and light in a sea full of darkness, that he had set off with his disclosure of the prophecy to the Dark Lord had frozen his feelings. The pain, the guilt, the regret and the despair about her death had been too much for his mind and his heart to handle, so that he had collapsed, hidden his feelings behind a mask of cold indifference and cruelty thanks to his superb Occlumency abilities and isolated himself from the world. His soul had died with her and the only thing he had wanted to achieve in his remaining miserable life had been to destroy her murderer and the tormentor of the wizarding world Lord Voldemort and to help her son Harry Potter to free the magical world of his reign of darkness, terror, and death. In retrospective, he realized that Lily Evans had not been his one true love, but a bigger than life itself idealized illusion. Since he had met her as a child, connected to her through their shared magical abilities and experienced her kindness, Severus had been obsessed with his illusory dream of marrying her, fathering her children and growing old with her. He had wanted to have it all. A beautiful, friendly and talented witch as a wife, an innocent, well-cared for and beloved baby as a child, a successful, for her world-changing inventions and excellent research department renowned, apothecary as a business and a big, beautiful and stylishly furnished villa as a family house. His dreams had gotten more delusional and surreal the darker his reality became.

Severus had faded out that Lily wasn't in love with him, that his fascination for the Dark Arts had destroyed any friendship between them or that he had sold his soul to the devil in his blind search for fame, money, and power. As a Death Eater, he had been the unfree dark agent of a madman, who had persecuted, tortured or killed every Muggle, Muggle-born, blood-traitor or squib that this madman had put on a death-list. He had fought against everything Lily stood for. Her Muggle heritage, her magical genius despite being muggle-born, her compassion for other magical creatures and her dream of a united, equal and non-violent magical world. Nowadays, Severus couldn't understand why he had joined the Death Eaters and believed that they would fulfill his dreams. Sure, Severus had been an abused, neglected and love-hungry boy from a failed violent and loveless marriage between a Muggle and a witch who had to suffer in silence and alone from the physical and verbal abuse of his alcoholic, magic-hating and sadistic father Tobias and to see his worthless father beating his beautiful, magically gifted pure-blood mother Eileen into submission and abandoning her magical heritage.

But other wizards or witches had gone through similar childhood traumas without becoming an ice-cold killer. Moreover, he had grown up in poverty, hadn't been able to afford decent clothes, food or hygiene products and had been bullied mercilessly at Hogwarts by the Marauders for being a gloomy ugly Slytherin or by his Slytherin peers for being an intelligent magically talented and arrogant half-blood. But not every victim of bullying - and Severus had even tried to avenge himself through his own acts of bullying - with a poor family background joined an inhumane struggling for world domination gang to feel admired and appreciated. Severus had tried to come to terms with his bad decisions in his former life and move on, even if his vices would chase him every remaining day of his new life.

Severus had tried to redeem himself by donating money to a war orphans and widows fund, by building a modern orphanage with passionate friendly and affectionate nurses or by developing many new potions and remedies. Although the wizarding world wasn't aware that Severus Snape was in truth the mysterious handsome, wealthy and socially committed magical potions genius Sage Prince. They thankfully believed in his death as a heroic spy for Dumbledore during the Finale Battle. They hailed him as a tragic hero who became a spy and fought for the Light in memory of his unrequited true love Lily Evans Potter. Severus despised this romanticized version of himself. Nowadays, he had demasked his love as an obsession, fought every day with his demons and had worked out that he had joined the Light not only to rescue Lily but also to save his worthless self and find a nearly scot-free way out of the Death Eaters.

Because he had noticed early on in December 1979, about a year after he had taken the Dark Mark, that he wanted to get out. He hadn't been able to fulfill his dreams of fame, power and wealth as a Death Eater. Sure, in the beginning, he had felt that his potions genius and outstanding magical potential in dueling had been acknowledged and supported for the first time, for the Dark Lord had sponsored his magical Potions Mastery, hired him as his chief potioner and let him teach his colleagues about his new self-developed duel spells. But as the first amazement about being powerful enough to torture Muggles or brew deadly cureless poisons had vanished, Severus had recognized with horror that he was an unfree lackey to a madman who committed crimes in the name of an ideology - the ruling of the purebloods in the wizarding world - he didn't believe in and that he had let himself be consumed by his inner darkness.

He had desperately searched for a way out, but he had known that his only options were death or flight like a coward. Thus, he had distanced himself inwardly from his Death Eater personality, had cut out the faces of the innocents who were murdered by his poisons and curses and had accomplished every mission of his master to his satisfaction, because he hadn't wanted to be killed or tortured into madness by him. He had been a wicked, selfish, immoral coward who acted without thinking and only the prospect of losing his obsession Lily Evans Potter to death had brought him out of his shell and let him risk everything. Although, he had only risked everything in the belief that Dumbledore wouldn't kill him or throw him into Azkaban because he had been aware that he could be valuable to him as a spy amid the Death Eaters and had been destined to be turned into a spy. That had been his only, albeit risky scot-free way out of the Death Eaters and his only chance to redeem himself. So, Severus had agreed to be a spy for the Light and to fight Voldemort until his death.

After Lily's death, his fight against Voldemort had been solely fueled by his thirst to avenge her. And he had wanted his pitiful existence to end in the Shrieking Shack by being sliced open by Nagini's poisonous sharp teeth. He had suspected that Voldemort would dispose of him in the end and known that Nagini was one of his favorite weapons to kill his enemies. Therefore, he could have brewed and taken an anti-venom for her poison, carried Blood Replenishing Potions, phoenix tears or Healing Potions on his person or put himself into a magical, loss of blood stopping, coma. But he had wanted to die on May 2nd, 1998 and to escape his unfortunate sad life, so he hadn't taken any precautions. After he had transferred his memories to Harry, fulfilled his last mission and had looked for the last time in Lily's emerald green eyes, he had put his life behind himself and welcomed the afterlife. But unfortunately, fate had prevented his death by an unusual magical miracle.

Instead of waking up in the afterlife, Severus awoke in a strange dream-like dimension. A younger, more beautiful and happier version of his mother had greeted him with open arms and told him that fate would give him a second chance. He would wake up in an hour near her old parental house, Prince Cottage, in Cornwall and could make a clean start, because he wouldn't wake up as the sour despised Potions Master, former Death Eater and murderer of Albus Dumbledore Severus Snape, but as a twenty-years-old innocent and unmarked version of himself Sage Prince. He would be the heir to the immense Prince fortune, the heir to their successful potions company "The Prince's Perfect Potions" that was now managed by a trust fund and a renowned magical potions genius with a Mastery in Potions who had been educated in the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft Wizardry in the USA and apprenticed under the renowned Potions Master Daniel Goldstein. Naturally, his educational records would be verified by magically appearing documents. His identity would be verified by his newly created birth certificate that revealed his birthday on May 3rd, 1977 in Boston and identified his biological parents as Tiberius Prince, Eileen's elder brother, who had died in November 1976 of a brain tumor, and Jasmin Devereaux, his secret American fiancee, who had left Britain broken-hearted and pregnant after his death, raised her beloved son with the help of her parents in Boston and had tragically died of breast cancer in January 1998, but not before informing him about his true heritage.

From there, Sage would seek his roots in Britain, discover his heritage and claim his legacy by appearing in Prince Cottage, proofing his blood relations to the Princes and inheriting their wealth, company and real estates as the rightful sole heir after an identity-affirming and property-transferring trip to Gringotts. As Sage Prince, Severus would be able to redeem his acts as a Death Eater by researching new healing potions and remedies and donating a large amount of his wealth. But above all, he would have a new chance to find true love and happiness. Severus had been overwhelmed by these life-changing revelations from his mother, but before he had been able to ask her further questions and still his curiosity as to why of all people got this wonderful second chance, he had woken up in his de-aged body outside the fields of Prince Cottage and his new life as Sage Prince had begun.

Over the past two years, Severus had put all his energies, efforts and passions in the research and invention of new healing potions with a competent team of potioneers, herbologists, and arithmetics and had helped to rebuild the wizarding world. But his new identity as Sage Prince could not wash away his sins and experiences as Severus Snape so that he was still a suspicious lonely man who appreciated to be left alone. Sure, he worked in his psychological therapy lessons on his issues and tried to be more open to other people, but at his core, he was still an unfortunate albeit a rich and young man who was haunted by his past and longed for happiness and love. With his new improved looks – his shortened shiny midnight-black hair, his straight, royal and unbroken nose, his luscious soft lips, his noble masculine facial features, his straight whitened teeth and his well-toned body - new expensive clothes - mostly black or navy blue suits, shirts and dark jeans -, his new boyish charms and prosperity, he was the dream of many witches. But he only engaged in short-lived affairs and one-night stands, for he was too scared of opening up completely to another person and getting his heart broken again. Lately, he had decided to get rid of his insecurities and excuses and start looking for love with an open mind. Today he would try his luck in a new popular pub in Diagon Alley. Hopefully, Armor's arrow would hit him there.


	4. Chapter 3 - A chance meeting

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update to my story. I hope that you enjoy reading it. Reviews and feedback are as always welcomed._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 3 – A chance meeting**

 _ **12 Grimmauld Place, London, January 2000**_

Ginny Weasley rummaged frantically around in her big maple closet. She needed something chic to wear that accentuated her beauty, hugged her figure and brought a glimmer into her eyes, but wasn't considered as too posh, too casual or too risky. She wanted to wear something that let her shine without screaming "I desperately want to have some fun" and was true to her type so that she would be comfortable wearing it and feeling like an independent young witch. In her Hogwarts time, Ginny would have transfigured herself a beautiful classy outfit in record time and without even batting an eyelash, but nowadays Ginny's despair about her unhappy life blocked her creativity, fueled her insecurities and let her overthink everything. So, deciding what to wear for a casual night of drinking and acting happy in a trendy magical pub in Diagon Alley was a real challenge for her.

After running her own little fashion show in front of her mirror, spreading half her clothes out in her shared bedroom with Harry and swishing her wand likely fifty times, Ginny settled on a curve-hugging tight dark black jeans, a fitted low-cut dark lilac top with lacy trumpet sleeves, her favorite tailored midnight-black suede leather jacket, some comfy ankle boots in suede leather and a rocky looking decorated with shiny crystals and eddy rivets black clutch. She had changed the material of her leather jacket and ankle boots into suede with a swish of her wand because she liked its softer more feminine and adult look. In addition, she had taken in her top, decorated it with lacy trumpet sleeves and added a low neckline with a few easy charms because she wanted to feel sexy and show her assets in a modest form.

Sure, she wouldn't search in the pub for a hot fling with a mysterious stranger because she was in a committed, albeit unhappy relationship with Harry and didn't want to add "being a cheater" to her long list of regrets. But some little flirting and chatting with a stranger who would pay her some compliments, listen to her sorrows and be interested in her, plain old Ginny Weasley, wouldn't hurt anybody. It would only give Ginny the feeling of being desired, appreciated and interesting. Feelings she hadn't experienced for a while, for Harry had stopped listening to her, asking if she was okay or paying her any compliments months ago. They had drifted slowly apart thanks to living two different lives and not assimilating their traumas from the horrors of the Finale Battle together in long talks. Instead, they had bottled everything up.

Harry worked and studied non-stop to complete his Auror training in record time with top marks and high praise from his instructors. Hence, he wasn't home very often or had time for long talks with Ginny. Besides that, he had handled Ginny with kid gloves since the death of Fred and her tortures in Hogwarts. He didn't talk openly with her or brought up negative things to not add more to her sorrows or cause her a nervous breakdown. However, his walking around on eggshells and protecting her from distressing news, caused Ginny to feel like a little child, not an equal partner in their relationship and angered her terribly. Thence, she had distanced herself from him after a fueled by the wish to forget and be happy whirlwind romance phase, hadn't talked about her shattered dreams of being a famous fashion designer or her deep psychological scars from her tortures, her family's grief and her unhappiness and had lived her own fake-happy life as an independent ambitious ministry worker.

Grimmauld Place that they had tastefully furnished with a mix of antique and modern furniture, renovated entirely in bright colors, warm earth tones floors and light aesthetic wallpapers and refurbished with floor-to-ceiling windows, electricity and a lovely impressive conservatory, didn't feel like her home, although she had loved the creativity, freedom and efficiency of fixing it up according to her wishes. It had been a real time-consuming, exhausting and research-based adventure for Ginny and Harry had wanted to do as much as possible by themselves. Therefore, they had researched about Renovating Spells and Charms, the latest fashion of decorating your home and how to transfer electricity into a magical house. Ginny had loved the chance to create something unique with the power of her fantasy and magic because it had resembled her fashion designs. However, even her pride and astonishment about the new optimized Grimmauld Place hadn't turned it into her new cozy home.

And she knew deep down that it would never be her and Harry's home because their romance was dead. They only were too afraid to admit it to themselves since their family, friends and the whole wizarding world had expected them to marry, have kids and live happily ever after and their failed romance would be another failure and shattered dream in their vitas. Thus, they stayed together, acted like the happy couple and put on a brave face. In reality, Ginny only waited anxiously for the moment when everything would crash down. But she didn't know yet, if she inflamed the matchstick or if Harry pulled the plug.

Ginny tried to clear her head, stop focusing her thoughts on her romance gone bad with Harry and glam herself up. She underlined her big amber-brown eyes with the aid of dark eyeliner, various shades of lilac and silver eyeshadow and dark lash-lengthening mascara, optimized her fair complexion with a porcelain foundation, refreshed her face with rosé rogue and put some shiny rosé lipstick on her full lips. She didn't apply her makeup by hand but rather used several Cosmetic Spells and Charms so that her face had been momentarily attacked by several seemingly flying brushes, makeup sponges, and eyeshadow applicators. After she had put on her natural makeup, Ginny used several Hair Charms to transfigure her dark-red shoulder-length straight hair into soft shiny and voluminous curls. As Ginny looked in the mirror, she felt sexy care-free and reborn, so that a little smile graced her lips. But she finished her look with expensive silver hoop earrings that she had bought herself from her first wage, a delicate silver necklace with a star charm that her parents had gifted her to her 17th birthday and a glittery silver charm bracelet with horse, golden snitch, and scissors charms that her brothers had gifted her to her passed NEWTs. To ensnare the senses of a handsome young gentleman, Ginny applied her favorite perfume "Miss Dior" by Dior that exuded a magnificent fragrance of roses, wild bergamot, tulipwood, and rosé pepper.

Happy with her appearance, Ginny looked for the last time into her magical mirror that paid her the compliment of looking like an English rose. She put some Galleons into her clutch and visualized her destination, the trendy magical London pub "The Camel Pub" and apparated in front of it. She took in its built-up façade of dark-brown walnut wood panels and dark-brown agate stone, its in big brown capitals on a glittery shiny gold plaquette written name "The Camel Pub" and its view of artful decorations. With confident graceful steps, Ginny opened the door and walked straight to the bar while clearing her mind of her issues and encouraging herself to have a good time. There, she slumped as graceful as possible down on one old worn-out bar stool, ordered a gin and tonic from a middle-aged friendly smiling barkeeper with a groomed dark-brown beard and looked curiously over the other patrons.

In the far-left corner behind herself sat a cheerful chatting and laughing group of four male friends in their mid-thirties who were exchanging animated stories about their home lives, school time and working lives, direct behind her sat a loved-up exchanging amorous glances and heated kisses married couple in their forties who were interrupting their loved-up display to eat their Shepard's Pie and gush with pride about their kids and in the far-right corner behind her sat an old scowling gentleman in his seventies who was sipping slowly on his beer and reading the newest edition of "The Evening Prophet", muttering to himself about fake news.

Ginny felt several different emotions studying the other patrons. Firstly remorse, for she had neglected her friends and couldn't imagine herself talking so carefree and happy to Neville, Hermione, Luna, and Demelza. Secondly envy, for she couldn't imagine Harry and herself sitting in a pub in twenty years and being so in love, she longed for a happy, true romance like this. Thirdly fear, for she could imagine herself sitting in a pub all alone and mumbling to herself like an old lonely and crazed spinster in fifty years due to her isolating herself from the whole world.

Instead of enjoying her time and chatting with a handsome stranger, Ginny felt sadder and more desperate than before and was being hunted by dark thoughts. She downed her drink in one gulp, ordered a new one and tried to forget everything. But she couldn't order her mind to stop thinking. She was lost in her world of regrets, pain, and sorrows.

Suddenly, she felt a strong masculine hand on her left shoulder shaking her. Startled and a little dizzy, Ginny wanted to reprimand the offending hand and turned her head slowly to the side. As she started this rude person down with a withering look, her amber-brown eyes met blazing onyx-black ones. Her harsh accusations died upon her glossy rosé lips as she perceived the loneliness, unhappiness, and despair reflected in his irises.

"This stranger has his own demons that torment him every day", she thought wistfully. Intrigued, she studied him exactly. His looks could only be described as mysterious dark and handsome. He was roughly in his mid-twenties and his well-toned tall body clad in a navy-blue form-fitted button-down shirt, smart black slacks as well as shiny black leather boots and his left wrist was graced by a sparkling valuable and sterling silver Rolex. His shiny midnight-black hair ended above his ears, but its subtle undercut let a few short strands fall in front of his eyes. His piercing onyx-black eyes gleamed with intelligence and passion, his strong, masculine facial features with his broad forehead, high cheek-bones, regal nose, and square chin gave him the look of a young handsome prince and his exposed by a dreamy smile and surrounded by luscious lips straight white teeth made him look like a male model out of a toothpaste advert. Ginny admired him for a few minutes, hoped to Merlin that he didn't notice her staring or couldn't read her thoughts and blushed slightly before she composed herself enough to say in a pleasant steady and melodic voice:

"Oh, I'm sorry for staring at you, but you startled me out of deep thoughts with your touch. My name is Ginny Weasley and I'm pleased to meet you." Ginny looked at her handsome stranger questioningly and hold her right hand in greeting. He blinked a few times, shook her hand eagerly and responded in a deep, alluring baritone: "Hello, Ginny. My name is Sage Prince and I'm delighted to meet you. I'm sorry for startling you, but you seemed so sad and lost that I needed to shake you up and get your attention. A beautiful young and vibrant witch like you shouldn't need to drown her sorrows in alcohol alone. Let's order new drinks together and get to know each other."

Ginny was at first surprised by his bluntness, but she picked out his American accent and thought that Americans were known around the world for their openness and directness. Hence, she didn't get offended and encouraged herself to agree to his offer. It was her chance to open up to someone without the fear of judgment, disappointing one of her loved ones or demasking her unhappiness. She could be herself, talk about her failed dreams and lost love and get some unbiased advice. As a bonus, she would learn more about a mysterious handsome man and maybe find someone who could understand her. So, Ginny nipped on her ordered drink, used a "Muffliato", took a deep breath and began to tell her story.


	5. Chapter 4 - Kindred Spirits

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still enjoy reading my story. Constructive feedback is as always appreciated, so don't be shy about it. Special thanks to_ _ **Sakura Lisel, KrispiKreme**_ _and_ _ **Animalium**_ _for favoriting and/or following my story. You really made my day._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 4 – Kindred spirits**

 _ **The Camel Pub, Diagon Alley, London, January 2000**_

Sage Prince walked briskly to the old-fashioned traditional English pub "The Camel Pub". He desperately needed a drink to forget about his horrible day in office. His experiments with a new trial for a Werewolf Cure had ended in a total disaster. His test subject, an as a three-years-old infected, mid-thirty bookstore clerk named Jeff Miller who desperately wanted to escape from the stigma, pains, hardships and societal discrimination connected with being infected with lycanthropy and took the risks of testing his experimental, unlicensed and unfinished potions to help finding a cure couldn't control his mind mid-transformation and destroyed his high-security cell under the influence of his newest version of a possible cure. Only a quickly shouted Stunning and Sleeping Spell, an invention by himself that worked like a strong Muggle narcotic and put its victim immediately into unconsciousness, had prevented Jeff from hurting himself or attacking his laboratory staff.

Sage didn't know where his experimental cure had gone wrong yet but this experiment was a huge setback in his trials because the previous potion, an experimental combination of a highly dosed optimized Wolfsbane Potion, an unlicensed Anti-Change Potion, and a newly-developed Pain Potion, had let Jeff stay human in mind, reduced his pains and hadn't changed his skin into fur, his teeth into sharp weapons and his extremities into claws and paws. Sage and his team had hoped that they could emphasize the Anti-Change effect with this new version so that his spine wouldn't crumble and he hadn't to crawl on all fours. But alas, the newly added ingredients had not interacted as hoped and Jeff hadn't stopped transforming at all. To find the cause for this failed potion, Sage and his team of potioneers, herbologists, and magizoologists had to analyze the interactions of all ingredients, the quality, and preparation of each condiment and the correctness as well as effectiveness of the brewing process. They would be put back at least one week in their trials and had to redo their time-consuming research process.

Sage didn't look forward to all these hardships and felt like a failure because he had installed the hope in Jeff's eyes that they would be able to develop an effective, affordable and error-free Werewolf Cure until the end of this summer. He didn't want to add another point to his list of bad acts so that he would work twice as hard, re-read every existing potion's book, think outside the box and experiment with various potion ingredients to achieve a new breakthrough. Besides that, his pride as a scientist, researcher, and master potioneer didn't allow him to fail. He wanted to redeem some of his past dark deeds by helping the unwanted, healing the injured and curing the mortally ill so that he would instill hope, happiness, trust, a sense of security and health in people. He wanted to be the polar opposite of his former self. Instead of instilling fear, despair, pain, and sorrow in people, he wanted to put a smile upon their lips, a glimmer in their eyes and hope in their hearts.

Clearing his head with the help of Occlumency, focusing on his intent to live his life to the fullest and start dating, Sage Prince breathed deeply and stepped with long sure steps into the pub. He wanted to radiate an alluring aura of mystery, self-confidence, and openness. Therefore, he stretched his back, smiled friendly in the direction of the bar and took a seat on one worn-out barstool. Ordering a whiskey bourbon, smoothing out his dark-blue button-down shirt with his right hand and running his left fingers through his cut coal-black hair, he noticed a pretty young redhead downing a gin and tonic in one gulp and looking utterly exhausted from the corners of his eyes. Sage couldn't deny that he was drawn to red-haired women. Their fair complexion littered with cute looking freckles, their fiery colored hair that changed its shades due to the ankle of sunrays from Bordeaux red to strawberry blond or chestnut brown and bright blue, green or brown eyes attracted him. Besides that, many redheads he knew personally had a fiery temper, a no-nonsense attitude and fought passionately for their ideals. He admired these character traits in any woman and looked for them in his potential girlfriends.

Although Lily Evans Potter had possessed these traits, his taste in women hadn't anything to do with her or his obsession with her in his former life. Sure, Lily had been passionate, headstrong, protective of her loved ones and brave, but she had also been deeply affected by the opinions of her peers and the expectations of society. She hadn't been a free spirit who had fulfilled her dreams, done things her way and gave a damn about the judgment, rules or conventions of society. Quite the reverse! She had been a kind-hearted likable young woman who had married her high school sweetheart, had lived a financially comfortable life by his side without pursuing her own career and had sacrificed herself out of love for her son Harry. By modern standards, she wouldn't be considered as an independent witch with her own ambitions, career, and money.

Sure, Sage also admired women who stayed at home, raised and educated their children to be responsible, kind, tolerant and active members of the magical society and knew that having a big family was a dream come true for many people. But he knew that Lily Evans had had different dreams in her youth that she had abandoned to comply with the ideal image of a good wife and mother. She had dreamed of achieving a Mastery in Potions or Charm, creating her own potions, improving existing charms or teaching kids. And taking the fate of his mother into consideration who hadn't been able to escape her hell of an abusive marriage due to her lack of education, money, and contact to the wizarding world Sage would encourage any future wife of his to live her dreams and be happy.

Shaking off his heavy thoughts, Sage studied the redhead who hung her head, arched her back, sipped her gin and tonic and seemed near to tears closely. She was of average height, had a slim, but curved figure and Bordeaux red shoulder-length hair that had been styled into soft glamorous curls today. She was clad in a form-fitted purple top, some black skinny jeans, an edgy black waisted suede leather jacket and black suede leather ankle boots. She wore a natural makeup and shiny silver jewelry. Sage loved her casual, but sexy look and wanted to get to know her. The contrast between her edgy look and sad aura intrigued him and he desperately wanted to see her face.

Therefore, he gave himself a little pep talk in his thoughts, stood up and approached her. To get her attention, he lightly shook her left shoulder. Sage scolded himself for this action because she flinched, startled lightly and turned her head abruptly in his direction to undoubtedly reprimand him for his idiotic and offensive behavior. "Wow, Sage. You can even destroy a chance to get to know a lovely long witch without talking to her. Expressive", mocked him a mean voice inside his head. When her amber brown eyes met his onyx black ones, Sage's eyes widened in recognition. The sad red-haired young woman who had downed her gin and tonic in one gulp and looked utterly unhappy was Ginny Weasley.

As Sage continued to stare shocked in her dull fawn eyes, he felt like meeting a kindred spirit. Sage knew that the old saying of the eyes being the windows to one's soul was true. Every time he had needed to face Voldemort he had applied his strongest Occlumency walls because he knew that one look in his un-occluded eyes would betray his treachery, revulsion, and horror. So, Sage was very surprised to see the longing for love and happiness, battle with ghosts from the past and sadness as well as devastation reflected in her eyes.

He couldn't believe that the feisty, defiant and self-confident witch he had taught for six years as a Potions Professor in his former life, had lost the spark in her eyes and the vibrancy in her aura. Sure, he was aware that her brother Fred had died in the Finale Battle and that she had to endure the tortures of the sadistic Carrow twins under his short, violent and horrific eight months as the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Two facts that still hunted him in his dreams and caused him a mixture of feelings like guilt, grief, self-loathing and shame, because he hadn't been able to protect his students and had to watch them being tortured, injured or killed due to his role as a double agent. He had never imagined her being quite so visibly unhappy. From his personal battles with the after-effects of torture, he knew that they left deep physical and psychological injuries. And while the former slowly healed with time, but often times left visible disfiguring scars, the later could often only be processed with professional therapy, long, open and undiscriminating conversations with family and friends and the love, support, trust and patience of one's loved ones.

In the case of Ginny Weasley there seemed to be all a victim of traumatic events could hope for. She had loving supportive parents who would die for their children and only wanted their happiness, a bunch of over-protective loving elder brothers, who would let their sister sympathetic ears and be there for her, a group of loyal trustworthy friends who would cheer her up with jokes and bust her self-confidence and a loving faithful boyfriend, the Savior of the wizarding world Harry Potter himself, who would make her smile and dry her tears. But something must have gone horribly wrong for her, because this strong loving support network obviously hadn't worked out, for she seemed to be lost, unhappy and depressed.

Sage could only guess what made her so unhappy that she needed to drown her sorrows in alcohol. But he knew that she needed a sympathetic ear that could listen to her story without judging her. And as he wasn't in the mood to add another case of neglected support to his long list of regrets and had sworn to himself that he would use his second chance to help other people and make their lives happier, he decided to act as this patient, unbiased and advising resonance body. Besides that, Sage was curious to hear her story and fascinated by her beauty. Sure, she was one of his former students, twenty-one years his junior and would likely run screaming away, if she knew that she was about to share a drink with the "Bat of the Dungeons". But these valid points to stay away from her didn't discourage Sage. He wanted desperately to see the spark return into her amber brown eyes and to see her smile whole-heartedly again. Therefore, he would have a heart-to-heart talk with her, for he could use someone to talk to too.

Before he could ponder how to best approach her, a slight blush graced her face, her pleasant, steady and melodic voice addressed him and she held out her right had in greeting.

"Oh, I'm sorry for staring at you, but you have startled me out of deep thoughts with your touch. My name is Ginny Weasley and I'm pleased to meet you."

Sage blinked, arranged a response in his mind, shook her soft, pale and delicate feminine hand eagerly and responded in his deep, composed baritone while thinking not to mess this up and making her a casual offer.

"Hello, Ginny. My name is Sage Prince and I'm delighted to meet you. I'm sorry for startling you, but you seemed so sad and lost that I needed to shake you up and get your attention. A beautiful, young and vibrant witch like you shouldn't need to drown her sorrows in alcohol alone. Let's order new drinks together and get to know each other."

Sage hoped that his bluntness and compliments would move Ginny into accepting his drinks and talking to him because she really needed to open up to someone about her feelings. He anxiously awaited her reaction and trusted that his new handsome looks, mysterious aura, sympathetic charisma and empathetic nature would spark her interest and curiosity. As Ginny looked him deep into his coal-black eyes, offered him the bar stool on her left, took a sip of her gin and tonic, uttered a "Muffliato" and turned her head in his direction, he knew that she would talk to him. So, he eagerly slumped down on the bar stool and listened with rapt attention to her voice.


	6. Chapter 5 - A heart-to-heart talk

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you. I hope that you enjoy reading it and still like my story. I noticed a decline in views and if you have any advice on how I should improve my story, please leave me a PM or a review. Only your feedback can help me to develop further. Thanks for your support._

 _Best wishes_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 5 – A heart-to-heart talk: Ginny's story**

 _ **The Camel Pub, Diagon Alley, London, January 2000**_

Ginny encouraged herself to open up to the mysterious stranger Sage Prince. She downed her gin and tonic in one gulp because deep down she knew that she was mental for unloading her heart to some stranger she felt a strange connection to. "Here comes nothing", thought Ginny wistfully, tried to collect her buzzing around at full speed thoughts and formulate a beginning to her story. But before she dared to utter one word about her deeply guarded shattered dreams, current unhappiness, and secret dreams, she looked Sage in his onyx-black eyes, noticed his encouraging nod and blurted out a fair warning. She wanted to give him a way out of their talk.

"Look, I know that you probably didn't plan to waste your free time and lovely night in a pub to listen to some sad story of a desperate female stranger. I would understand it if you decided to leave now before I unload my sorrows. So, if you want to go, just go. But if you decide to stay and listen to my story, I would appreciate it, if you could just listen without uttering your opinion or judging my actions first. Just hear me out, because I think that would make things a lot easier for me. I know that you probably think I'm crazy to trust you and that you are currently stressed out about my ramblings, but for some reason, I know that you can understand me, that we are kindred spirits. So, please loan your sympathetic ear to me and I will return your favor and be your resonance board later. It's up to you, Sage. What are you going to do?", Ginny asked, shrugging her shoulders and biting her bottom lip nervously.

Her silver hoop earrings were bouncing through the air, her wild red curls flying around her face and her forehead peppered with deep frowns. She looked so utterly alone, unhappy and desperate that Sage couldn't stop himself from putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. He wanted to wash her sorrows away and help her despite his fears of being exposed as a person with a fake identity or his inexperience in comforting any woman. He knew that it probably wasn't fair to dish some fake story out to Ginny, if she opened up her heart to him, so he vowed to himself to stay as near to the truth as possible. But Ginny couldn't know that Sage Prince was the de-aged and wealthy version of her former nightmarish Potions Master because she would go on the run before she had told him anything or listened to his explanations.

And the most important issue right now was that she didn't bottle everything up in herself and talked to someone. So, Sage decided to carry on his charade, bury the memories of his former identity under some thick layers of Occlumency walls and see Ginny as the young unhappy witch she was now without any influence of his past impressions, trashy gossip stories or blind-folded prejudices. He pretended to be Sage Prince. A handsome, mysterious and charming American in his mid-twenties who hadn't suffered under the tyranny of Lord Voldemort, didn't know everything about the Golden Trio and their friends and was focused on his inventions as a potioneer and had met this young beautiful woman for the first time this evening. Sage thanked Merlin that his self-developed accent transfer spell worked because his charmed American accent was so different from Severus Snape's British accent and transformed his voice fundamentally that Ginny wouldn't stumble upon any similarities. So, Sage answered Ginny in a kind reassuring voice and tried to transfer his sincerity with his eyes.

"Ginny, I really appreciate your bluntness and decision to open up to me. I absolutely don't think that you are mental or your words annoying, because I know how difficult it is to share your deepest secrets, thoughts, and dreams with someone. I also feel a strange connection to you and I can assure you that you can trust me with not telling a soul about your confessions or judging you unfairly for your decisions. In my whole life, I have bottled everything up in me, suffered from unjust prejudices against me and lived an isolated, lonely and unhappy life out of fear of getting hurt and/or rejected. Thence, I can relate to your feelings, thoughts, and insecurities. I could assimilate some of my issues due to therapy sessions with a Muggle psychologist, but I'm certain that your sympathetic ear and perception will help me to see some things differently and forgive myself for a few deeds because you are a kindred spirit. And you didn't ruin my evening plans. I came to this pub with the intention of drowning my frustrations about a bad day in office in alcohol. Our talk will do my liver some favors and let me enjoy the company of a beautiful brave woman. So, please, start telling your story. I promise you to not interrupt, judge or share my opinion unless you want to hear it."

Totally overwhelmed by his kind words, the sincerity in his eyes and the calmness of his voice, Ginny started her story in a constant deliberating stream of thoughts and feelings.

"Sage, you can't fathom how much this means to me. But I will stop to beat around the bush and tell you my story. Let me re-introduce myself to you. I'm Ginny Weasley, a nine-teen-years-old red-haired woman who doesn't love her boyfriend anymore, hates her job as a secretary in the Ministry and is haunted by the demons of the Second Wizardry War. One year ago, I thought myself to be utterly happy with the man of my dreams Harry, whom I had had a crush on since my first year in Hogwarts, and content with my own career in the Ministry. Sure, in my youth, I had dreamed about studying fashion design and business economics at the University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London as well as starting up my own fashion label after my degree, but the war shattered my dreams and hopes. I don't know how much you have heard about Voldemort's reign of terror, destruction, and violence as well as our victory over it in America. But let me tell you that it left deep physical and psychological scars on every single one of my family or friends. We have lost so many loved ones, witnessed so many horrific deeds of torture, homicide, and mutilation and needed to commit so many acts of violence ourselves that every one of us is deeply traumatized and affected until now.

I had a huge loving financially burdened family of eight - six elder brothers including one set of twins, a fiery overprotective and one hell of a chef mum and a loving realistic and operating day and night dad -, but the sacrifices for the victory of the Light left us utterly devastated. My brother Fred, one of the twins, died in the Finale Battle by the hand of a Death Eater, my eldest brother Bill got mutilated by a Werewolf and now shares some Werewolf mannerisms, my brother Percy had distanced himself from us to climb up the greasy pole in the Ministry, my youngest brother Ron identified, searched and destroyed the Horcruxes of Voldemort with his two best friends for a year and my mum Molly murdered the evil loyal and insane Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange to protect me.

The grief for the death of Fred shook our family to the core, so that my mum lives in a current fear of losing another of her children, tries to smother us with love and has collapsed psychologically some months after the Final Battle. She has been treated with psychological therapy, psychotropic drugs in the form of newly based on her genetics developed potions and pills and a knitting therapy ever since and our family walks on eggshells around her. Everyone is afraid to hurt her feelings, reduce her to tears or disappoint her with a wrong word, look, mannerism or memory. I know that this behavior won't help her heal, but I myself struggle too much with my own demons to be a great support system to her.

I went to school for my sixth year in Hogwarts at the time when the war escalated and tried to form a resistance consisting of the remains of a Defense organization called "Dumbledore's Army" against the violent, dark and inhumane rule of the Death Eaters in Hogwarts with the help of my friends. The Headmaster, the now deceased spy for the Light in the midst of the Death Eaters, Severus Snape, had to retain Voldemort's trust and appear as his dark evil and sadistic right-hand man, so that he allowed the sadistic evil and dumb Death Eater twins Alecto and Amycus Carrow to teach in Hogwarts. He could only watch on as they have terrorized, tortured and manhandled his students.

I myself have been tortured for a considerable time with the Cruciatus Curse. That immense pain haunts me until today in my dreams and often times only lets me sleep with a very addictive Sleeping Potion. Being made out to be the "undesirable number one" as one of the ringleaders of the DA resulted in a constant fear of being stalked or getting punished. Until today I sometimes battle with anxious feelings of being followed or attacked behind a corner. I know that I probably have some PTSD issues and should search for professional help. I actually had some therapy sessions with a magical psychologist, but I felt too ashamed to open up honestly about my issues. Hence, I didn't process them.

Regardless, one of my greatest scars of the war is my fear of fulfilling my dreams and living my life. This is also one of my greatest regrets and the biggest source of my unhappiness besides my broken relationship with Harry. I know that this confession must sound contradictory to you. After facing unspeakable horrors, losing loved ones and nearly dying, most people would decide to live their life to the fullest, only caring about being happy and living their dreams, because you never know when your life could be over. But my first thoughts after the end of the war were to settle for the secure road and focus on my romance with the love of my life Harry Potter.

The most important thing in my life has been to protect my family, enjoy my romance with Harry and stay close to my loved ones. I didn't want to take a huge risk by running into high debts to study fashion design and business economics without the guarantee of becoming a successful fashion designer. I didn't want to burden my romance with Harry that was at that time difficult enough due to his status as the Savior, his helper syndrome, his undiscussed near-death experience as well as our unprocessed demons of the war like survivor's guilt, PTSD, and grief with an added bonus of studying 24/7, distancing myself and working on an independent career. Although what I didn't realize has been that by not talking about our issues and treating the other with kid gloves, we have never established a common ground, trust and a feeling of security that is essential for a strong loving relationship after the first rays of infatuations have vanished.

So, I began to work as a secretary to a Ministry official right after my finished Hogwarts degree. A job that my dad helped me to obtain, made my parents proud and gave me the appearance of being an independent modern witch with her own career without screaming scholar, artist or athlete. The Wizarding World expects of me to support Harry in his career as an Auror, to marry him in the future and start a family with him. Thence, I don't need to earn my own money for long. Besides, I was already living with him in Grimmauld Place, a dark house he has inherited from his deceased godfather Sirius Black, that we had renovated to fit our tastes, styles, and needs. Thence, we have our own home. And living together is as good as an engagement in the eyes of society as well as our family and friends. But although I have designed Grimmauld Place after my wishes, something that resembles the beloved fashion design of my youth, it never felt like home to me.

I have admitted to myself around Christmas that my formerly blissful happy romance with Harry is broken beyond repair and my job doesn't fulfill me. But I haven't broken it off with Harry because I cringe thinking about the tears in the eyes of my mum, the disappointment in the eyes of my dad, the anger in the eyes of my brother Ron and the trashy headlines of the "Daily Prophet". I know that neither Harry nor I are happy in our relationship. We don't miss each other enough to send each other silly love messages, we don't put all of our efforts in seeing as much of each other as possible, we don't talk openly about our issues and feelings and we certainly don't long to be intimate with each other. Our romance has frizzled out and a love like the strong bond between siblings replaced it. But neither of us has been brave enough to pull the plug in our romance because it would add a new failed dream or fairytale gone bad to our list of failures.

And this list of missed chances is already long enough because I loathe myself for not being brave enough to study fashion design and business economics. Sure, right after the war my creativity and muse had been utterly destroyed and I couldn't design one little piece of clothing, so my chances of passing university with flying colors had been really slim. But half a year ago, my muse returned and I started to transfigure my shirts into fashionable tops or design my own dresses again. I really wish I could turn time back and start studying, even if I went into debts and my success wasn't guaranteed. However, my life experience has shown me that nothing is ever guaranteed, so that I would take the risky road now. I only long to be happy and do the things that I like. So, mysterious stranger Sage, do have any advice on how I could achieve that?"

Ginny ended her story and looked expectantly, lost and desperate with her amber-brown eyes into Sage's onyx-black ones.


	7. Chapter 6 - Live your dreams!

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another short update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still like my story and would really appreciate some reviews._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 6 – Live your dreams!**

 _ **The Camel Pub, Diagon Alley, London, January 2000**_

Sage Prince listened with rapt attention to Ginny's story, occasionally sipping his own Bourbon whiskey and smoothing out his midnight-black hair. He hated it when his natural curls wanted to make an appearance and dishevel his neat cut. Hence, he tried to stop it with his hands. He tried to control his facial expressions to not intimidate or unsettle Ginny in her tale, for he had promised her not to judge her unfairly. Besides that, he knew how difficult it was to open up to someone, so he wasn't surprised that Ginny had lost their eye contact during her tale, looked down into her lap and talked rather to herself than him. But that was to be expected because she seemed to be ashamed of her depression, unhappy life, shattered dreams and failed romance and pouring out her heart to a stranger was a high risk as well as a huge progress. So, Sage schooled his mixed emotions like anger, disbelieve, compassion and sadness behind his mental walls, although he knew that he had failed miserably to conceal his anger about Potter's behavior. He couldn't believe that the Savior of the Wizarding World could be so dumb and ignorant not to notice his girlfriend's sorrows.

Sure, he knew that Potter had always been a self-absorbed immature prat with a martyr complex, but he would have never guessed that he could leave his girlfriend alone to battle with her demons. He had seemed too empathetic to disregard her sorrows or unhappiness. Sage could only guess, that Potter had been too occupied with saving the world, being an excellent Auror and processing his fame that he didn't pay attention to his girlfriend's emotions. He couldn't fathom what an idiot Potter was for ruining his chance at happiness with the loyal, feisty, beautiful and magical talented witch Ginny Weasley. But he could fathom that Potter was afraid of calling it quits with Ginny and facing the backlash of the press, his groupies, and his adopted family, the Weasleys, for he would have to admit his failure and bury his dream of a fairytale happily ever after. And Potter wasn't the guy who would face his issues head-on and live with them.

Sage was upset that Ginny hadn't been able to fulfill her dream of studying fashion design and business economics due to her financial woes, wish to stay close to her family and fear of failure because if he had learned one thing in his life, it was to start dreaming big and living your dreams. He was able to relate to her financial woes because he too had grown up in poverty. Hell, his family hadn't even had enough money to buy him decent clothes, expensive hygiene products or new books. He was familiar with a life consisting of hand-me-downs, missed meals, non-existent presents, and taunts of one's wealthier classmates, although he knew that Ginny didn't grow up in the same impoverished, violent, toxic and uneducated working-class environment he had. Actually, far away from it. Then despite their financial worries, the Weasleys had showered their children with love, protection as well as encouragement and fulfilled them as many wishes as possible.

Instead of growing up in an old, impoverished and broken industrial Muggle town like Cokeworth being labeled a freak, mistake, and failure by one alcoholic, physically abusing bastard of a Muggle or pitied for his looks, half-blood status, and magical powers by one depressed, subdued, addicted to pills, and robbed of her magical heritage uncaring mother or despised by his wealthy, pure-blooded Slytherin housemates for being a poor, arrogant and magical talented half-blood or by the arrogant, narcissistic and cowardly Marauders for being an ugly, socially awkward and fascinated with the Dark Arts evil Slytherin, Ginny grew up in a lovely, chaotic, lively and magical home, the Burrow, being labeled the cherished, long-awaited and beautiful baby girl by her loving parents, protected and guided by her rowdy, mischievous as well as good-hearted bunch of six elder brothers and accepted as well as respected for her kindness, sense of justice, creativity, empathy as well as intelligence and superb Quidditch skills by her close friends and Hogwarts staff.

Granted, Sage could imagine that being the only female child in a huge pure-blooded, albeit defamed as poor blood-traitors, family had its downsides like overprotective brothers, being barred from the pure-blood society or handling a huge set of expectations and pressure. But he could only envy Ginny for her loving, loyal and close family network and support system. With bile rising up his throat, he remembered his horrible, lonesome and dark childhood, youth and adulthood without any hope, love or happiness besides his obsession with Lily Evans. He had blindly chosen his dark path to become a Death Eater, surrender to his inner darkness and commit evil crimes, because the Death Eaters had made him feel powerful, important, appreciated, useful as well as accepted and had provided him the stage to exact revenge on all the people that had treated him unfairly, violent and like a lost cause in his past and had given him the opportunity to fulfill his dreams of achieving a Potions Mastery and creating his own spells and potions.

With horror and guilt, he recalled his violent, merciless and inhumane acts against mankind, his paid by the dirty money of Tom Riddle apprenticeship and his unfree, toxic and self-loathing life as his right-hand man and poisoner whose venoms, poisons and toxins killed, injured, tortured, mutilated or bewitched many innocent, life-loving and good wizards and witches as well as Muggles. Sage felt a new rush of guilt as Ginny confessed being traumatized and hurt by the tortures of the evil sadistic Carrow twins under his reign of terror in Hogwarts. Sure, he had suspected and deep down admitted to himself that Ginny and the other defiant ringleaders of Dumbledore's Army had been subjected to the Crusiatus Curse, physical punishments, and other inhumane curses by the wands and hands of the Carrows during his term as the Headmaster of Hogwarts and his guilt haunted him in his dreams.

He had gotten addicted to his self-developed adapted to his genetics Sleeping Potion. But listening to her trauma affected him nonetheless deeply. He loathed himself for not protecting his students, saving their lives and being granted a second chance, a fresh start, due to the whims of fate while they stayed dead, injured or traumatized. But Sage vowed to himself to open up to Ginny and try to help her. So as she asked, after thirty minutes of nervous with dull eyes and a flat voice storytelling and a desperate look in her amber-brown hopeless eyes for his advice, he decided to try showing her a path to regain her happiness and live her dreams. After the last gulp out of his whiskey glass, Sage looked encouraging into her eyes and said in his calm smooth layered with an American accent voice.

"Ginny, I really am blown away by your honesty, sincerity, and openness because I know how difficult and personal it is to open up about one's personal issues, especially psychological, thanks to the stigma that still sticks to mental diseases and issues in the Wizarding world. I know that the magical society has made progress in the last decade due to exchanges, communication, and interaction with the Muggle world, so that diseases like depression, PTSD or anxiety are now treated with new innovative potions, charms, and methods. But it still takes a lot of courage and conscious effort to talk about one's unhappiness and sorrows, because it's never easy to admit being unhappy.

In my experience, many people act happy, cheerful and content despite being utterly unhappy and depressed in reality only to fulfill the expectations of their friends and family as well as society in general. I sometimes think that the magical society is especially badly mistaken to think that our magical powers would guarantee us a carefree and happy life easily because we can transform ourselves, cure our maladies or predict our future with a swish of our wands, a potion from our cauldron or the tea leaves in our cups. In my opinion, these seemingly unlimited magical abilities and possibilities easily corrupt our minds and confuse our emotions as well as morals.

In my youth, I made many mistakes because I wanted to gain power, prove my enemies wrong and take revenge on them and basically the whole world for treating me poorly. I joined a group of dark wizards in America. I was so blinded by my ambition and the wish to impress a girl I was obsessed with that I lost my way, committed awful crimes and surrendered myself to the darkness. Only thanks to the mercy and help of my mentor, my own bad conscience and the realization that I hated myself as the dark wizard that I was and couldn't continue to live such a lonesome, violent and pathetic life, I turned my former comrades-in-arms in to MACUSA, worked as a spy and fought to destroy their reign of terror and violence. After my name had been cleared due to my efforts for MACUSA, I vowed myself to start living my dreams without seeking the approvement of the magical society or playing by their rules.

Tragically, at roughly the same time, my mum Jasmin who had raised me alone with love and security in Boston until she had married my good-for-nothing stepdad Toby died of breast cancer and I had been utterly devastated. Before she passed away, she disclosed the secrets of my heritage to me. She had met my real dad Tiberius Prince in 1976 on a study trip to Great-Britain, fell in love at first sight and agreed to marry him after a short courting phase. But they had needed to keep their relationship hidden because my mum had only been a Half-Blood from a middle-class family in Boston. My dad's parents Julius and Octavia Prince had expected him, as the sole heir to the pure-blooded, esteemed and wealthy Prince potions dynasty, to marry a daughter of an old, powerful and pure-blooded family. So they lived a blissfully happy life in secrecy, enjoying their new romance and planning their marriage. But then tragedy stroke them. My dad died of a burst aneurysm caused by brain cancer and my mum left Britain utterly devastated and heart-broken, but noticed back in Boston that was carrying his child.

Throughout her pregnancy and the first years of my life, her parents supported her and I enjoyed a happy early childhood. Although my mum changed drastically thanks to her marriage to the bastard Toby who physically and emotionally abused her and myself, blocked her magical powers and took her will to life she kept herself informed about my paternal heritage and stumbled upon the fact that I - as the sole magical and rightful heir of the Princes - would inherit everything after proving my kinship to them.

Since I had longed to learn more about my British roots, had wanted to have a fresh start after the death of my mum as well as my dark past and had completed my Potions Mastery in Boston at the time, I decided to move to Britain, claim my heritage and live my dream of creating new revolutionary and affordable healing potions and cures for many diseases, maladies and disabilities. I became the CEO of "The Prince's Perfect Potions" company, renovated my paternal property Prince Cottage and bought myself an apartment in London near my factory.

In addition, I donate a vast amount of my money to social organizations like the "War Orphans and Widows Funds" or the "Magical Organisation of Psychological Diseases" every year to redeem my past dark actions. I dream of finding a cure for lycanthropy or cancer in cooperation with my expert teams of superb herbologists, potioneers, scientists, and arithmetics. And although I'm grateful for my second chance at life thanks to my inheritance and the guidance of my mentor, the demons of my past are still hunting me daily and I sometimes have difficulties to face the mirror or pleasantly chat with other people. But I forget my sorrows when I research old potions, experiment with new ideas or complete a successful potions trial in my lab. In these rare moments, I'm actually happy because I can do the things that I like. Even though I still long for happiness and love in my private life, I can confidently say that I have never enjoyed my working life as much as today.

So, Ginny Weasley, my advise to you would be the following. Live your dreams. Quit your job in the Ministry, apply for the fashion design and business economics courses at the University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London, break it off with your boyfriend, continue to design your own fashion in your free-time and focus on being happy and mental stable again. Don't try to meet the insane expectations of the Wizarding world or your family. I can guarantee you that your family likely only wants to see you happy, smiling all day and enjoying your life. The choice for the man of your dreams or your profession isn't important to them as long as you are happy. So, they will survive your break-up, fresh start as a student and your striving for independence and support you eventually.

Just fulfill your dreams because only that can help your soul to find peace and live happily. If you can only change one thing at a time, do it. But rest assured that I will help you on your new path to the best of my abilities. I can be your shoulder to cry on, your sympathetic ear to unload to, your understanding support system and your scholarship financier, for we are kindred spirits and I want to see your beautiful amber-brown eyes sparkling, your luscious lips smiling and your kind heart racing out of happiness and joy again. It's up to you. What will you choose, Ginny Weasley?"

Sage Prince ended his long monologue with a dry throat, fluttering heart and an imploring gaze in the direction of Ginny Weasley. Ginny was utterly perplexed by this turn of events and she needed some minutes to sort out her buzzing head and flying emotions. She had been moved by Sage's story and intrigued by his advice, but she desperately needed time to think and process these heart-to-heart talk. Therefore, she sipped her gin and tonic and let her gaze wander through the pub. How should she react to his advice?


	8. Chapter 7 - Start dreaming big!

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope you still like reading my stories._

 _Have a nice weekend,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 7 – Start dreaming big!**

 _ **The Camel Pub, Diagon Alley, London, January 2000**_

Ginny was flabbergasted by Sage's offer, his moving life story and the connection she instantly felt to him. Sure, some of these emotions stemmed from his attractivity, his desire to flirt with her and pay her some missed attention and his willingness to listen to her sorrows without rolling his eyes, sneering his face or interrupting her with negative comments. After pouring her heart out to Sage, Ginny felt strangely light-headed, free as a bird and relieved of a heavy burden. She knew that this heart-to-heart talk didn't change anything regarding the issues of her failed romance, unfulfilling job, and PTSD but it really helped her to reflect upon her life, question her past choices and future options and to admit some hurtful truth to herself. She now was certain that she couldn't go on with her life like this and needed to change it drastically unless she wanted to end as a lonely, bitter and desperate housewife in a failed marriage.

And Sage's story about his fresh start in life by living his dream of being a research-crazy, cure-developing and life-saving potioner finally opened her eyes to the amazing possibilities she still had in life. If Sage could give up his fascination with the Dark Arts, leave his criminal group of dark wizards, help MACUSA as a spy to bring them to justice and establish himself as the CEO of a highly-praised potions company to work on improving healing potions, inventing cures for deadly diseases or developing remedies for pain relief, she could certainly quit her job, register at the London University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in fashion design and business economics and sort her love life out. Besides evoking her empathy for his abusive home life as well as his bullying in school, her anger for joining a group of dark wizards as well as committing evil acts in his past and her admiration for turning on them as well as working as a spy to bring them down, Sage's story gave her hope and courage to start living her dreams. But she knew that she didn't have the courage to change her life at once by 180 degrees, so she would make one step at a time.

Ginny gathered her thoughts, looked with conviction and a new light in her amber eyes into Sage's obsidian ones and answered him.

"Sage, I'm deeply moved by your story and appreciate your honesty, trust, and belief in me. Your speech about starting anew opened my eyes and gave me new hope to fulfill my dreams. You' re right, I have to stop wallowing in self-pity, drowning my sorrows in alcohol and going on with my life without changes. And I'm moved by your offer to be a supportive friend and sympathetic ear, but I'm not ready to change my life by 180 degrees. Although your words about my family stroke a chord in my mind, because I know that they only want to see me happy and content in life from the bottoms of their hearts, I can't confront them with my job change, break-up, and psychological issues at the same time.

They will be extremely upset and disappointed about my break-up with Harry because he is like a son to them and they have always dreamed of my fairytale ending with him. My mum has even hinted about marriage and children in the future. Therefore, I have decided to withhold my news about our broken relationship until later. I'm not strong enough to face all the tears, screams and reproaches yet, so I will maintain this shame of a romance. Besides that, Harry is so focused on his Auror training and chasing dark wizards, that I don't have to face him very often. Usually, we only communicate through a few owls and our last outing in public as a couple was months ago. Hence, I don't have to play the affectionate girlfriend. If I'm lucky, Harry will pull the plug on our relationship in the end.

But I have decided to quit my job at the end of January, apply for fashion design and business economics courses at the London University and start spending my transition time between January and April with research in the newest design spells, charms, and techniques, updating my atelier with the newest stylish materials, colors and patterns, drawing fashion sketches and designing my own fashion 24/7 and looking for a part-time job or internship in a fashion boutique. I appreciate your offer to fund my scholarship but I can't accept this. It wouldn't be right. So, Sage, what do you say? Are you happy with my reaction?", Ginny asked cheekily.

Sage only shrugged his shoulders, sipped his Bourbon and replied in a monotone voice. "Ginny, it isn't important if I'm happy and you don't owe me an explanation for your actions. Although I appreciate your thought process and support your decisions wholeheartedly because only by living your dreams you will be happy again. I can understand that you want to change your life step by step and not by 180 degrees, for you would have to deal with too much drama otherwise. But in my experience, it also is important, to be honest with other people and to not lead them on. Therefore, I encourage you to speak with your boyfriend and confess that you aren't in love with him in the near future. It doesn't make any sense to put the unpreventable off because it only causes more hurt feelings, wasted time and living in despair.

And in my books, you can accept my offer to fund your scholarship because you would have to go into debt otherwise and between friends money lending is a normal thing so you don't have to feel ashamed of it. I inherited more than enough money so that your tuition fees don't make a hole in my bank accounts. Besides that, if you really are too honorable or feel uncomfortable for taking my inherited money, I could offer you a new deal. I will pay your tuition fees and any bills that are connected to your studies in exchange for your work as a designer. My employees are constantly complaining about their plain, unpractical and ugly working clothes so that they get on my nerves and nag about it twice weekly. Therefore, I would appreciate it, if you could design some new working clothes for my employees. In fact, I thought about a whole new revolutionary and fashionable line including lab coats, t-shirts, slacks, skirts, cardigans, and jackets as well as shoes and some dressing robes for social gatherings or working trips.

You could lace every clothing item with some magical protection spells as . "Anti-Inflammable","Waterproof", "Anti-Curse" or "Potions-Repelling" and imprint my company logo on it. We would discuss the working clothesline in detail at another time after you had had the time to draw some sketches and familiarize yourself with my company as well as the design of working clothes. I know that it doesn't sound like a glamorous or headlines making job but you could design some new clothes and let your creativity run free. So, Ginny, what do you say to my offer?", inquired Sage in a calm business-like tone.

Ginny couldn't believe her luck. Here was a handsome mysterious stranger offering her to design her own fashion line and paying her study fees who sympathized with her listened to her sorrows and gave her some hope to change her life. She couldn't believe want an awesome chance he granted her and how much he obviously believed in her talent as fashion designer without actually having seen anything of her designs. Sure, she knew that he wanted to see her smile and be happy again but to engage her as the new fashion designer of his working clothesline took his efforts to see to her happiness to a new level.

As the CEO of the best potions company in Great-Britain, that astonished the magical society with their ground-breaking research and inventions of new based on genetics healing potions and cures, received glorifying reviews in specialist publications and was showered with praise, gratitude, and awards, he had a reputation to defend, responsibility to take and authority to lose, if anything wouldn't work according to plan. So, if she messed the working clothesline up, it would reflect negatively on him. Therefore, he took a huge risk and a great deal of trust to entrust her, a former secretary and design greenhorn without a degree, with designing his working clothes. Ginny vowed to repay his trust with an innovative, fashionable and practical working clothesline. She beamed at him and answered him with sparkling eyes.

"Sage, I can't fathom how much you believe in my abilities as a fashion designer and my integrity as a person to grant me this amazing opportunity. Although I still feel like taking advantage of your generosity because I don't think that my paycheck for my work as your working clothes fashion designer equals my tuition fees and you also offer me a platform to make myself known as a fashion designer, I can't say no to your deal. I would be delighted to design your working clothes, plan the whole line with you and get to know you better because I feel an instant connection with you and can't wait to hear more about your story.

I have never experienced these deep emotions of blind understanding, open talking and warm security with any other guy that I only know for about three hours and I'm honored to call you my friend. After our heart-to-heart talk, I feel so free, hopeful and happy and my heart is buzzing with excitement, that I can't recall feeling so good on any day in the last four years. I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening patiently and without prejudices to my story, empathizing with me and opening my eyes to start living my dreams. Our talk changed my outlook on life and gave me hope to master a fresh start as you did. Besides that, I' m awed by your courage and trust to share your life story without sugarcoating your dark past with me because I can know that talking about oneself's shadow parts and failures is never easy.

I suggest that we exchange our Floo Network numbers and addresses now so that we can communicate per owl or Floo in the next coming weeks more easily. If you don't use a specialist firewall against charms, we could also exchange our messages more easily with a Patronus charm messenger, but I can imagine that this would be more difficult for you because you never know when you receive my message and it could disturb you during taxing meetings or tricky experiments. Thence, I think we should relay on owls and the Floo for the beginning. After we have worked out a schedule, we should communicate via the Patronus messenger, because it is more like talking to each other in person. We can outline some first ideas this night but I regretfully have to go home very soon, for my boss expects me in the office at 7.30 am.

I will quit my job tomorrow till the end of January and submit my vacation for the remaining two weeks to focus on applying to University, planning your clothing line and research the newest trends in magical fashion design. You can reach me practically 24/7 at Grimmauld Place. By the end of this week, we should meet in person, perhaps in a nice restaurant, to talk about your expectations for your working clothes and my first sketches. After that, we should meet twice a week, if your busy schedule allows it, to talk about the progress in my designs and to get to know each other better. Because our talk has helped me a lot and I could really use a friend. So, Sage, do you agree with my plans?", Ginny questioned Sage with a twinkle in her amber eyes.

Sage was blown away by her change in spirits and couldn't wait to see her smiling more often in the future. He assured her that he was glad to have her as a friend too. Their talk has also deliberated himself and he believed in her extraordinary eye for fashion because he admired her outfit that was undoubtedly her own creation. He agreed enthusiastically to her outlined plans and after exchanging their addresses, talking some more about their daily routines and the basic key points of their planned working clothesline, sharing another drink and enjoying the company of each other, Sage and Ginny bid each other farewell and promised to stay in touch per owl and Floo.


	9. Chapter 8 - Fresh start

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. Thanks for reading my story._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 8 – Fresh start**

 _ **Office, Ministry of Magic, London, January 2000**_

Ginny Weasley put her last personal items in her box and sighed heavily. She smoothed out her long red curls, looked around in her former working environment and processed the life-changing decision she has made today. Deep down, she knew that she has made the right move by quitting her job at this month's end and submitting her remaining vacation for the remaining ten days because she absolutely hated the meaningless, dull and daily routine of being a secretary. And in this state of mind, she wasn't able to do her job without errors or to represent the Ministry with joy and a happy smile. Sure, she had put up an act for the last several months to please her boss and do her job as efficient as possible so that her canceling came as a huge shock to Albert Turner. He had tried to talk her out of it but the fact that he hadn't noticed Ginny's false smiles and lackluster work only emphasized her decision to start fresh.

For, if nobody at your office had even cared enough or looked you in your eyes often enough to notice that you didn't feel alright and were visibly unhappy doing your job, you should probably quit your job anyways. What did it say about her department, the Ministry and the Wizarding world in general that they wouldn't notice the sorrows of their employees or citizens? And after they had confessed them, they only cared for their lost working capacity or the bad light it shed on them but not the wellbeing or happiness of the human beings involved? Were the most humans in the magical world this ignorant, self-observed and superficial that they didn't see what was in front of their eyes? Sure, Ginny knew that everyone in the magical world was still deeply scarred by the horrors of the war but in her opinion that wasn't an excuse to not pay attention to the emotions and mindsets of your family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances.

Anger, disappointment, and disbelief boiled up in Ginny as she thought back to her brief talk with Mr. Turner. He had read her notice to quit at first disinterested, then, after noticing its content, his eyebrows had shot to his hairline, his eyes widened in shock and he uttered utterly perplexed, but in an accusing tone, "Well, Miss Weasley. I didn't see that one coming. You were always so polite, easy to talk to and doing your job without any complaints that I have never thought that you hated it or were unhappy with it. Have you thought this through? It's never too late to change your mind, tear this notice into pieces and forget all about it. I assure you that I won't mention your momentarily lost in your power of judgment to anyone else and I won't hold it against you in the future.

But I have expected more restraint and stamina from the war heroine and daughter of Molly and Arthur Weasley. Your father will be devastated to learn about your poor choices. And to take the remaining ten days off so that you never have to set a foot in this office again or can chill at home isn't only unfair, cowardly and immoral, but also a grave mistake on your part, for lazy quitters don't make it to the top anywhere. So please be reasonable, tear this note into pieces and go back to work", Mr. Turner had ended his poor attempt to change Ginny's mind by giving her a guilty conscience and appealing to her senses with a raised voice and a hammer with his fist on the desk.

Ginny had been so angry at his audacity to question her power of judgment, treat her like an insolent child and drag her parents into this conversation that she had only raised one eyebrow, looked him dead in the eye and sneered in a venomous acid tone, "Thank you for your concerns, Mr. Turner. But I won't back down and withdraw my notice. Instead, I will pack my remaining personal items into a box and leave this office as fast as I can. And to make one thing absolutely clear. I know exactly what I'm doing. I respected the cancellation period and I'm entitled to a vacation. So, don't go around dragging my reputation through the mud or shedding a negative light on my parent's education capacities. Have a nice life and good luck in finding a new secretary." She had turned calmly around, walked swiftly out of his office and left a flabbergasted Mr. Turner behind.

Reminiscing with a sly smile on her lips about her rebel response to her boss, Ginny smoothed out the wrinkles in her modest, mustard-yellow midi sheath dress, put her self-designed dark green and made of the softest biologically cultivated cotton duffle coat with beautiful ruffles on its sleeves and seam as well as little buttons in rose shape on, took her packed box into her arms, looked for the last time around the office and left it feeling free and happy. She couldn't believe how good it felt to talk her arrogant self-centered ex-boss down, quit her job and do the things she liked without any consideration to the societal expectations of the Wizarding world.

Sure, Ginny would undoubtedly have to face the backlash in the form of some mocking reports by Rita Skeeter in the "Daily Prophet" but this didn't concern her anymore. She stepped into the Floo network, stated her destination as the "University of Witchcraft and Wizardry, London" in a clear and confident voice and left the Ministry in a swirl of green flames. After registering in the fashion design and business economics courses that would start on Avril, 1st getting a huge package of informative brochures, documents, lists, and schedules, that she would have to read, fill out or transfer money to before the start of the new semester and receiving a short guided tour through the University, she felt carefree and happy. She had managed her fresh start, now she only needed to inform her family about her life changes. With a little discomfort in her stomach, Ginny directly apparated to the Burrow.

 _ **The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, January 2000**_

Landing a little unsteady on the snow-covered fields around the Burrow, she kept her balance, magically shrank her box and papers to put them in her coat's pocket, rightened her clothes and looked with bright amber eyes around the beautiful landscape. She loved coming home, seeing the wide fields of wheat or colorful flowers that were now covered under a white icy and calm blanket of snow and breathing in the fresh country air. She inhaled deeply, turned around and studied her lovely chaotic parental home. Until today, it still looked like a mismatched, homely work of great magical architecture and arts, although after its reconstruction due to the devastating brand, the different pieces and color patterns seemed to harmonize better and the Burrow lost its somewhat shabby and fragile look. The Weasley's only used the best building materials and durable natural floors for the reconstruction that they had financed with all of their saving, some money out of a Funds for war victims, their prize money for their Order of Merlins as well as a small inheritance from a grandaunt and had planned, organized and converted into reality with the help of a renowned magical construction company. Sure, it still looked more chaotic or deformed than any other house she knew, but this mismatched construction made out his unique charm. In every corner, the Burrow pulsed with magical energies, evoked warm feelings or attacked your mind with happy wonderful memories. Ginny loved being here, although she felt a little bit queasy today because she would need to confront her parents with her fresh start.

Deep down, she knew that her mum and dad only wanted her to be happy, have a steady job and to share her life with a kind, intelligent and loyal man who loved her unconditionally. Ginny imagined that especially her mum Molly has always guessed that this man would be the famous Savior of the wizarding world Harry Potter, for Ginny had had a crush on him since seeing him for the first time, shared her sorrows over his short relationship with Cho Chang with her, asked her on some advice to gain his interest and expressed her happiness about the early days of their romance. Her mum would be blindsided by their split and possibly feel crushed because she has always dreamed of welcoming her kind of foster son Harry due to his marriage to Ginny officially into her family.

But Ginny didn't want to break the news of her failed romance to her parents today, so she dismissed her depressing thoughts and focused on how to tell them about her quitted job and enrolment at University. She could imagine that her parents, especially her dad Arthur, wouldn't be too thrilled about her decision to quit her job in the Ministry, to dismiss her boss Mr. Tuner with harsh words and to study something with unsteady future prospects, for good manners like treating your bosses with respect, showing other people kindness and sticking to the rules had always been important to them and they expected every one of their children to carry them out. Sure, she knew that he had always encouraged his children to live their dreams and supported their career choices, but she would also understand his initial disappointment and lack of understanding, especially since he had helped her to secure her position in the Ministry. She could imagine her mum initially breaking out into tears, questioning herself as a good role model and demanding answers but she was sure that she would encourage her plans and support her in establishing herself as a fashion designer in the end, because her mum has always praised her for her creativity, talents and practical skills in fashion design.

She walked with steady steps to the Burrow, the icy wind sent her red curls flying through the air and gave her cheeks a rosy glow. After one last deep breath, Ginny stepped through the front door and was instantly hugged by her enthusiastic mum who had been cooking something delicious over the stove for the smell of fresh herbs, roasted chicken and rosemary lingered in the air. Molly beamed at her, took her face into her hands and kissed her lovingly on her right cheek. It seemed like she had a good day today, as she didn't tear up or look with dull sapphire blue eyes through space or she had improved her acting skills and could now pretend to be happy while feeling miserable inside. She didn't know which suggestion was right but she hoped that Molly processed her grief and survivor's guilt better these days and was now able to start healing.

So, she returned her beaming smile and waited for her aimless usual fussing.

"Oh Ginny, my dear. What a welcome surprise that you would visit your dear old mum on Friday. I hope that everything is fine, for shouldn't you be still working at this time? Did something happen? You just seem to be so carefree, happy and self-confident, totally different from the last times I saw you, so I wonder if anything positive did occur? Did you get a promotion?", Molly asked her little girl with an inquiring look.

"Honestly, mum. I don't know what your secret is but you always know when something big has changed in my life. You are right, I feel completely free and hopeful to fulfill my dreams. The reason for this isn't a promotion but a change in careers. I have quit my job at the Ministry today and will attend the University of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London in fashion design and business economics courses from Avril on. Before you question my poor choices, please let me explain my decision to you". She noticed her mum's face getting as white as chalk, her eyes going wide and her mouth standing open, likely gathering her marbles to shout her down for her stupid decision, but before she had been able to utter a word, Ginny explained her reasoning process.

"Look, mum. I imagined that you would be shocked and furious with my decision to leave the Ministry and start fresh at University first, for I exchanged a steady income and job with career prospects with studies without any payment or guarantee of helping me to establish a successful fashion business. But I needed to make this change to be happy again. And you know that designing my own clothes, researching about the newest fashion trends and drawing my own fashion sketches have made me the happiest in my youth. Believe me, I know that I can't turn back time and recreate the emotions of my happy teenage years by starting to design again. But I know from the bottom of my heart that only fashion design challenges me, inflames my passion and shots endorphins through my body. Therefore, I felt the need to start studying it.

I'm also aware that my studies don't guarantee that I will be a successful fashion designer or fill witches and wizards with enthusiasm for my designs, but I need to take this risk for I wouldn't forgive myself otherwise. Ten years from now, I would only mourn after my missed chances and hate my dull life as a Ministry official. If you ask yourself how I'm going to pay the tuition fees, the CEO of "The Prince's Perfect Potions" Sage Prince has offered me to pay them in exchange for my work as a fashion designer. I will design his employees new working clothes. We're in the early stages of planning this working clothesline, but I'm extremely happy and grateful for his belief in my skills as a designer and this great opportunity. In addition to that, I will start looking for an internship or an odd job in the fashion industry, so that I will still earn some money. I also hope to sell some self-designed clothing pieces, so you don't have to be concerned about me. So, mum, can you comprehend my decision now? Do you support my fresh start?", Ginny asked her mum with a vulnerable but hopeful look in her eyes.


	10. Chapter 9 - Moving on

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still like reading my story and would appreciate some reviews. Special thanks to the two guests that have reviewed my story and_ _ **makoon555**_ _for adding it to his story alert list. Your positive reactions and suppor make my day and motivate me to write more._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 9 – Moving on**

 _ **The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, January 2000**_

Molly Weasley was still stunted into silence by the news of her only daughter. She couldn't compose herself enough to utter her total disappointment, rage and primarily concern in some harsh words. She had always thought that her little girl had everything under control, could handle her life without her naggings and aimed for a higher position in the Ministry. Ginny had always had clear visions of her future and had tried to turn them into reality. As a little girl, she had loved to dress her favorite dolls into fancy dresses. But their money troubles hadn't allowed them to buy her a set of different ones, so she had used her accidental magic to change them to her liking. As a second year, it had been her dream to gain a position on the Gryffindor-Quidditch-Team, so she had improved her physis, played Quidditch daily with her brothers during vacation and started to play with more confidence. As a consequence for her efforts, she had eventually joined the team.

As a teenager, she had had a crush on Harry and dreamed of marriage and children with him, so she had tried to gain his attention by dressing up, making him jealous with little teenage romances and being a good friend to him. In the end, he had developed feelings for her, reciprocated her love and asked her to be his girlfriend. Now, they enjoyed the passions, happiness, and excitements of being in love. Sure, Molly knew, that the war had also left scarres on her daughter's soul, especially her tortures by the Carrows and the death of Fred. But Ginny had always been such a strong, defiant and self-confident young woman that Molly had believed in her well-developed coping mechanisms.

Naturally, Molly hadn't been so self-absorbed with her own psychological issues and grief to not notice the lack of a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, happy smiles on her lips or a carefree spring in her steps, but she had trusted in her ability to open up about her sorrows to her family and friends. And every time she had asked her if something was bothering her, she had looked her straight in the eyes and responded that everything was fine; she just missed Harry terribly or had a bad day at work. Molly hadn't questioned the truth of her answers because she had been sure that she wouldn't lie to her or mask her unhappiness. Arthur and she had always tried to bring up all of their children with values like honesty, respect, tolerance, kindness, and politeness; to establish in them the knowledge that they could talk with them about everything that bothered or burdened them without fears or a sense of shame and to not pressure them with career goals or surreal societal expectations, for they only wanted them to be happy, feel loved and trust in them.

Perhaps, she didn't know her daughter's emotions, dreams and burdens as well as she thought, she realized wistfully. Her own demons must have made her ignorant and insensitive to the emotions of her loved ones, for before the war she had noticed with one look in their eyes if something was wrong. Sure, she knew that her own battle with depression has numbed her feelings and compassion for others somewhat. It had blocked her observing skills, for she hadn't been able to face all the waring emotions and unhappy faces without being reduced to tears. She had also noticed that her family had wanted to shelter her and walked around eggshells in their interactions with her in the first months.

A fact that had saddened her and cut her to the quick, because she hadn't been able to resume her role as the strong mother-hen who smothered her kids with affection or scolded them with fury for their foolish acts if they didn't talk openly with her. At first, she had felt isolated and useless as a mother, but her therapy sessions after her nervous breakdown had taught her to accept her feelings and negative thoughts, to show her vulnerability and to talk about her emotions. She didn't have to be ashamed of her depression and could only start getting better by letting her family in again and robbing them of their false belief to do her a favor by sheltering her. Perhaps, Molly had thought naïvely that Ginny could comprehend this and would talk openly with her. Alas, it seemed, that she had bottled everything up in herself without talking to her friends or family and masked her unhappiness and despair under a mask of fake cheerfulness and satisfaction.

She knew that screaming at her for her dishonesty or deception wouldn't help her one bit and would only cause her to hurt, negative feelings as well as distress. She would likely only drive her more into isolation, so she ruled her facial expressions and stated to Ginny's anxious sounding request,

"Ginny, I can't act as if I'm pleased with your decision to quit your job and start studying courses in the highly public, vicious and often times unfair fashion business, but I support your new way of life nonetheless. I hope that you are aware that your dad and I only want you to be happy and achieve something in life. If you have decided for yourself that your current life situation and job made you unhappy and you felt like missing out on something important, I'm proud of you for admitting this hurtful truth to yourself and having the courage to change something about it. I'm pleased that you thought your change in careers through, have already enrolled at the university and secured your first deal with a renowned company, for this proves that you didn't act impulsive and without a concrete plan in your head. But I can't stop to warn you in advance.

I can imagine that the fashion business is a tough, merciless and often times bullying environment, in which your success depends heavily on the whims of your customers, the rules of the business market, the critics of the fashion experts and the opinions of the press so that you will be constantly in the limelight, exposed to the praises or mockings of the public and have very little privacy. I know that you can handle this pressure and are exceptionally talented in creating your own uniques fashion designs, but I want to caution you for the shadow sides of being a famous fashion designer. Stay assured, that your whole family will always support you, defend your reputation, buy your designs or lend you sympathetic ears. But you should start growing yourself a thick skin, for the start of your business, the backlash of the press and the reviews of your foes will be hard and time-consuming.

That doesn't mean that I'm not proud of you for living your dreams. On the contrary, I'm especially proud of you for being brave enough to take these huge risks and face every challenge that life as a fashion designer will implement. Know, that you can always talk with us without fears or shame, for we love you unconditionally, Ginny", Molly ended her long monologue by stepping in front of her daughter, shedding some tears and taking her in a loving embrace. Overwhelmed by the support of her mum, Ginny started to break down in sobs and enclosed her mum in a tight embrace.

She mumbled between sobs with a tear-stained face and hoarse voice, "Oh, mum. … You can't imagine how relieved I'm to hear your positive reaction. … It really means the world to me that I will always be loved and supported," Ginny composed herself, looked her mum gratefully in her sapphire eyes and stroked her cheek lovingly, before she started to talk in a more steady, clear voice, "I know that I should have talked to you or dad, opened up about my sorrows and discussed my career paths with you. But I was too afraid of your judgment and too ashamed of my supposed failure. Hence, I bottled everything up in myself. I know that I need to work on my psychological issues like the nightmares with images of my tortures that still hunt me, my anxiety disorder to disappoint my family or my low self-confidence.

So, I have decided to have therapy sessions with a Muggle psychologist that I friend of mine recommended to me. I promise you that I will use all my energies to find my way to happiness again and start moving on from the horrors of the war. But these changes will take time and I can't promise you to always discuss any progress with you. I also know that there will likely be some setbacks and difficult obstacles on my way, but I will try to master them as best as I can."

Molly studied her daughter with mixed emotions of sadness, pride, and astonishment battling in her heart and answered her honestly, "Ginny, I know that you can master anything you want because you're a strong independent and brave young women with a kind heart, a sharp mind, and an open worldview. I'm proud that you have decided to work on your psychological issues with professional help. From my experience, I trust that this will slowly heal your wounds. But let's stop talking about distressing things. Tell me all about your dreams and how you managed to get a deal with the mysterious brilliant CEO of "The Prince's Peferct Potions" Sage Prince so fast? ," she needled her daughter nosily because she wanted to have some gossip and lighten the mood.

Ginny blushed, tried to control her facial expressions and answered in a business-like tone to not make her mum suspicious, "Mum, do you always have to needle me for some gossip? Actually, I met Sage Prince just yesterday in a London pub, where we exchanged our life stories and realized that we are kindred spirits for we are both hunted by the ghosts of our pasts and search for a way to be happy. I know that this story sounds bad, like we stumbled upon each other in a shady pub, drowning our sorrows in alcohol and pouring our hearts out to the next person who would listen, but it wasn't like that," Molly raised an eyebrow, signaled her to go on and listened with rapt attention, "Sage noticed our instead connection as well, made me the offer to listen to my story in exchange for his and encouraged me to start living my dreams, because he had moved on from some bad things in his life two years ago and started to focus all his energies on researching, inventing and improving potions, cures, and remedies together with his employees.

He opened my eyes and reassured me that it was still possible for me to be happy again and study fashion design. As I mentioned my financial woes, he generously offered to pay my tuition fees in exchange for my work on a new working clothesline for his company. Naturally, I had to take this chance because working for such a famous respected and renowned company could really bust my reputation as a fashion designer and Sage became my friend in such a short time that I couldn't say no. I know that you will probably caution me to not take advantage of his generosity and feel indebted to him, so that he can make me do things that I'm not comfortable with, but I can guarantee you that Sage would never hurt my trust by demanding inappropriate things, mocking my skills as a fashion designer or talking bad about me, for he is a kind-hearted nice young man with values, manners, and decency."

Molly looked a little doubtful but gave away her mistrust in the end. "Ginny, I trust in your ability to judge character and your intellectual faculties, so that I believe your description of Sage Prince. Naturally, I don't know him and everything I heard about him comes directly from gossip papers, the "Daily Prophet" or talks of other people. Therefore, you can never know what is a true story or totally rubbish. Besides that, most reports praise him for his genius potion skills, his generosity in donating and ambition to invent new potions as well as cures to the benefit of the Wizarding World. I'm excited that you can build a friendship with such a well-respected wizard, get to know him better and design some clothes for him. When you see him the next time, thank him in my name for waking my little girl up and instilling some hope in her again. But let's talk about your first ideas or sketches for your new fashion designs now, for your aura always sparkles with excitement when you talk about fashion and design. So, what does a modern witch wear today?"

Molly and Ginny spent the rest of the afternoon talking about new colors, materials, and patterns, that are trendy in the Wizarding world, and how Ginny wanted to combine them in her designs. The time moved quickly as they chatted pleasantly with a cup of tea and a slice of cake about her ideas, first sketches and next steps on the way to her first clothing line. Ginny felt carefree and she didn't have to fake her smiles. Thence, she recognized hat moving on and starting fresh could not only be deliberating but also fun.


	11. Chapter 10 - Missing You

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still like reading this story. Thanks for your support._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 10 – Missing you**

 _ **Potion's laboratory, The Prince's Perfect Potions Company, London, January 2000**_

Sage Prince tried to focus his thoughts on the complex Potions book about the interactions of different unstable ingredients, that he read to discover the error that he and his employees had made regarding the potential cure for lycanthropy, but his mind failed to concentrate on the taxing matter. He couldn't focus his eyes on the written words, instead, he zoned out and reflected on his meeting with Ginny two days ago. He still couldn't believe that the strong, ambitious and vicious Gryffindor student of his past, was utterly unhappy today and struggled with her life. Sure, he could sympathize with her unhappy romance, her PTSD and her feeling of being lost, because he only experienced his unhappy obsession with Lily with regard to his love life, battled with his own hasty reactions, anxiety attacks, and black-outs when he saw a huge snake or a disfigured witch of his past and felt utterly lost and alone sometimes in his second chance in life. Sure, he was utterly grateful for his second chance at life, where he could fulfill his dreams of creating revolutionary potions, working in Potions research and doing experimental trials, inherited a huge amount of money and potions company from the Princes so that he would never have to worry about paying his bills, affording the newest Potions cauldrons or living in a nice, luxury home, in fact, he owned three real estates in Great Britain alone: Prince Cottage in Cornwall, Prince Manor in Wiltshire and his London Apartment, and start finding love and happiness as a hansome, wealthy and intelligent mid-twenty-years-old, but he oftentimes felt like a cheat, thief, and monster, that lived a fake life, robbed someone else of his second chance and only caused sorrow.

Logically, he knew, that he helped many witches and wizards with his potions creations and charity work. He helped to raise a new awareness of mental diseases and their treatment methods in the Magical world by creating a based on the genetics of his patients, highly effective and easily digestible Anti-Depression-Potion, he reduced the chronical pains and long-time sufferings of war veterans by producing a new, more effective and long-lasting Pain Potion or he assisted the Aurors in putting the remaining Death Eaters to justice by inventing a revolutionary, flawless Tracking Potion, that could locate anyone with a Dark Mark in anywhere, regardless of the magical means like Clocking Spells, Fidelius Charm or Polyjuice Potion that the Death Eaters used on their flight to stay hidden. Besides that, Sage donated a huge amount of his money yearly to Funds like "The War Orphans and Widows Funds", "The Funds for Disabled Magicians" or "The Prevention and Education Funds of/about Dark Arts", financed a new orphanage with nice nurses, educated teachers and well-maintained rooms for magical children, Squibs and Muggles and donated a lot of money to research projects or St. Mungo's. Although he wanted to help rebuild the Wizarding World, redeem himself for his past deeds and heal wizards and witches with his potions genius, he sometimes thought mockingly, that all his good deeds or revolutionary healing potions weren't inspired by his will to do good or the goodness from the bottom of his pure heart, but pushed by his attempt to escape his past, to erase the existence of Severus Snape or to pacify his bad conscience. In these dark moments, he felt like a fraud and wanted desperately to expose himself as the de-aged, polished and wealthier version of the former Death Eater, war criminal, Bat of the Dungeons and Slytherin bastard, Severus Snape, because the public, his employees, and the press would tear him apart for the monster that he was and not celebrate him for the saint he seemed to be. Sage naturally couldn't move on from his darker, unloved and cruel former alter-ego Severus Snape and sometimes wished, that the magical society would confront him with his past demons, hate him for his inhuman actions and put him to justice because he sometimes couldn't stand the praise, gratitude, fame, and esteem connected with his new life as Sage Prince. Every time some well-wishers praised him for his selfless, genius service for the Magical world, a voice in Sage head reminded him, that he was responsible for the deaths, disfigurements, severe injuries and traumas of thousand of wizards, witches, Muggles and quibs and that he had helped – at one point in his life – to inflame the Wizarding world with racism, violence, hatred, and darkness that nearly tore her apart. Thanks to his sessions with the Muggle psychologist, he learned to control these dark thoughts better and start coming to terms with his past life as Severus Snape and his fresh start as Sage Prince slowly. But they still lured in the back of his mind, and only his heart-to-heart tale with Ginny helped him to process them a bit more because she could understand his demons perfectly.

His feeling of connection to Ginny and their seemingly blind understanding was really remarkable on many sides. On one side, he knew that he should theoretically feel really guilty, sad and devasted by his talk with Ginny because her PTSD issues were caused by his cowardice, passiveness, and absence as a Headmaster of Hogwarts. He realized, that he had needed to act as the cruel, sadistic right-hand men of Tom Riddle to deceive his Death Eater brethren and maintain his cover as a spy, but he nonetheless regretted his inactivity and failure as a protector to his students. He often debated with himself, that he could have sent more students into detentions with Hagrid, Minerva or Fillius or bewitched the minds of the Carrows so that they thought they had tortured and punished students without doing it in reality, but he knew, that such manipulations would have been extremely dangerous for his position as a spy and probably endangered his whole mission, so that he tried to come to terms with his failures. And in his honest talk with Ginny, his guilt, compassion, and regrets tried to overwhelm him, because he needed to face one of his victims with his own eyes, see her dull, from insomnia and sorrows tired, amber eyes, hear her confess her inner battles with PTSD, sadness and emotional scars in a monotone voice and feel her unhappiness and despair in every fibre of his body, but he didn't break down, because he realized that he could help Ginny in healing her scars and being happy again.

So, one the other side, this talk with Ginny gave him the hope to redeem himself for his sins, to transfer hope and happiness into a lost young woman and to start healing due to this friendship to Ginny himself. For the first time in his existence as Sage Prince, he felt like he could help a broken soul heal only by talking to her, exchanging their life stories, giving her some advice and supporting her as a friend on her new way of life. Sage knew, that he betrayed Ginny's trust by not outing himself as the de-aged, wealthy and popular version of her former Potions master, and this thought burdened him heavily, but he vowed to himself, that he would uncover his true identity after they had established a close friendship. He understood, that his deception would undoubtedly drive a deep rift through their friendship when he revealed his true identity to her, but he was too selfish, vulnerable and fearful to disclose his true identity to her because he couldn't miss the chance to have a real friend, if he really looked at it without sugarcoating anything, his first real friend, who could understand his inner battles between light and darkness, truth and deceit as well as extrovertedness and introversion and still like him. He imagined the chances, that Ginny would confess her darkest secrets, her biggest dreams and her greatest regrets to her former, disliked Potions Professor and offer him her friendship, were close to zero, therefore Sage tried to stick in his stories close to the truth and show Ginny the real him, not the deceitful, dark, bitter and cruel former Death Eater, a role, Sage needed to play for twenty years of his life. He hoped that Ginny could forgive him his betrayal in the future because she realized, that Sage didn't play a role and put on an act to gain her friendship, trust and compassion, but showed him his new character, the real Sage Prince with all his dark and bright sides, all his regrets and hopes, all his nightmares and dreams.

Besides that, Sage really wanted to help Ginny, be a friend to her and support her on her new way in life. He realized that he could help her to live her dreams by paying her tuition fees, making her name as a fashion designer known and using his contacts in the fashion scene as well as the media to bust her career. For Sage, money didn't play an important role, because he inherited so much from the Princes, that he sometimes doesn't know what to do with it. Therefore, he really could use some money to fulfill Ginny's dreams of studying fashion design and business economics in London. Especially since he knew from his own experiences, how difficult it was to grow up in a family with money issues and how hard Ginny otherwise would have to work to earn the money to pay her fees. Sage could imagine that Ginny wouldn't avoid her workload and probably already looked for a paid internship in the fashion industry to at least afford her lifestyle as a student and gain some practical insights into the designing business because she only agreed to take his money after negotiating a deal about a new, practical working clothesline for "The Prince's Perfect Potions" to stop her feelings of taking advantage of his generosity or being indebted to him from coming up and possibly endanger their new friendship by creating a disbalance in power between them, so that Sage knew that she wasn't out for his money. Sage really appreciated her attempt to establish herself as an independent, creative young woman, who didn't want to take advantage of her friends or accept money that she didn't work for, so he offered her the deal with his new working clothesline out of respect for her principals and belief in her abilities as a fashion designer. Sure, he knew that Ginny was a nineteen-years-old greenhorn, who had never designed any clotheslines or worked on producing fashionable, practical and unique working clothes for the Potions industry, but Sage trusted her eye for fashion, her talents in Charms, Transfiguration and Arts as well as her flair for organization and enthusiasm for her dream job to guarantee a beautiful, trendy and revolutionary working clothesline. Sage really put all his faith in her talents, ambitions, and truthfulness because he really wanted her to be successful, to surf on a wave of success and be acknowledged as a new star in the fashion scene so that he supported her where he could. And he was aware, that her designing job for his company could be a career springboard for her because the public trusted his decisions and the press reported only in praise about him. Consequently, her being the designer of his working clothes, would put her in the spotlight, gain the interests of other companies and possible clients, especially, since Ginny was a war heroine herself and the current girlfriend of the Savoir of the Wizarding world, Harry Potter, their cooperation would make headlines. Sage hoped, that he could keep the negative comments, that would undoubtedly arrive due to her late studying, her career changes and status as the, albeit unhappy, girlfriend of Harry Potter, to a minimum because Ginny didn't deserve it to be the victim of some smear campaign or bullying from the press for fulfilling her dreams.

Sage gave up on his attempt, to get anything accomplished today by reading this book about ingredient interactions. First, he needed to pen a letter to Ginny telling her about his bad day in office and asking her to a nice little, secluded Muggle Café in London, because his thoughts only stayed with her and he missed her as his new, loyal friend, who would listen to his problems, talk freely with him and encourage him to think outside the box, terribly. He realized that these feelings were perhaps insane and too soon and he wouldn't want to be obsessed with her as he had been with Lily, but he really missed her as a friend and could use some positive news or something to look forward to on this taxing day at work. Besides that, he wasn't crazy about her like he was about Lily because he didn't idealize her or thought about her romantically. Sure, Ginny was a beautiful, young redhead with amber eyes, that he was attracted to, wanted to get to know better and see smiling, but foremost, he wanted to talk to his friend and know about the exciting changes in her life. So he penned her the following letter in the hopes, that she would want to meet him again in person so soon, and tied it on the leg of his onyx-black owl, Arcturus.

 _Dear Ginny,_

 _I hope that you are doing well and have already enrolled at the University in London. I also trust that you are currently working eagerly on the first fashion sketches and ideas for my ordered working clothesline. I wish you good fortune in researching the newest materials, patterns and colors for working clothes. Although I know, that we agreed to only correspond via owl or the Floo network in the first few days, I wanted you to ask, if you were interested in joining me in the Muggle Café "Rose Garden" in London for a cup of tea and a slice of apple cake, because I really miss talking to you, want to see you in person again and could use some company due to a bad day in office. So what do you say? Could you take a break and meet me at 4 PM in the café?_

 _I hope that you will say yes, but if you can't make it on this short notice, I won't hold it against you, promised._

 _Yours_

 _Sage_


	12. Chapter 11 - Rose garden emotions

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another, albeit late, update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still enjoy reading my story. Special thanks to_ _ **Crazy 109**_ _for adding this story to your alert list, because it really motivated me to update soon. Reviews and constructive critic are as always welcomed._

 _Best wishes_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 11 – Rose garden emotions**

 _ **Café "Rose Garden", London, January 2000**_

Ginny thrummed nervously with her freshly manicured, painted nude nails on the coffee table. Although she knew, that the clock only displayed 3:45 PM, she waited impatiently, with buzzing butterflies in her stomach and a feeling of coming home, for Sage to arrive. She couldn't believe, that he had this strong effect on her emotions. Sure, she loved their openness and closeness with each other after such a short time, missed his encouraging words, positive aura and compassionate eyes like she would with a best friend, but the fact, that she also missed his affectionate smiles, his encouraging touches and intoxicating scent like she would with a lover, told her, that she had most likely a crush on him. She didn't know if this was a good or bad thing because she wanted to establish, a professional, well-functioning working relationship with him on the one hand so that their potential personal entanglements as more than just friends could complicate things for her career as a fashion designer, on the other hand, she wanted to know everything about him, intensify their natural connection and them to be happy so that a potential romance could possibly be the key to shared happiness, satisfaction, and unconditional love as well as personal success as a fashion designer or CEO of a Potions company. For being in a fulfilled, happy relationship often times redounded to the benefit of your working life: your creativity levels were higher, you could think more easily outside the box, your confidence in your abilities was highlighted and you worked without concerns or depressing thoughts, that otherwise burdened your mind and soul. So, Ginny wanted to act on her feelings, let fate decide and learn of Sage's emotions towards her.

She knew that she should feel guilty towards Harry for going on a date with a man she was clearly attracted to, even considered to woo, while still being in a relationship with Harry but Ginny didn't feel any remorse or guilt towards Harry, she only felt carfree, understood and deliberated while spending time with Sage. And if he returned her feelings, accepted her advances or even made the first step towards a romantical relationship with her, she would throw all safety, caution, and insecurities out of the window and be with him, regardless the hurt she would undoubtedly cause Harry or the societal scandal she would create. Sure, she knew that she sounded selfish, heartless and a bit foolish, because she only met Sage some days ago, but from the bottom of her heart and the core of her soul, she trusted him, wanted to be with him and spent every day of their lives talking about silly gossip or serious news, opening up about their issues as well as dreams to each other and loving one another unconditionally. She realized, that the most important thing in her life right now was to be happy again. And she felt, that she only could be happy in close proximity – hopefully, in form of a love affair – to Sage, because he was her kindred spirit, could sympathize with her psychological issues and war traumas and listened to her without any prejudices or judgments. He could see the real Ginny Weasley, the young woman, who desperately wanted to be a well-known fashion designer with a unique style, suffered from PTSD in silence to not burden her family or out of shame for her still obviously unhealed psychological war scars and stayed in a unhappy, doomed romance with her first love, Harry Potter, out of convenience and fears: the fear of disappointing her family, losing a good friend, breaking the expectations of the Wizarding world, facing the media backlash, admitting one's failure or dying alone and unloved. She realized, that she should break it off with Harry before dreaming about her happily ever after with Sage, but she wasn't strong enough for this confrontation at the moment with all the ground-shaking changes, that scattered her life in all directions right now. Ginny never expected herself to be someone, who would cheat on her boyfriend or distance herself from him, but she and Harry had slowly drifted apart, and, like a whirling leaf in the wind, their rift couldn't be stopped, therefore they lived two separate lives without a common ground of unconditional love, complete trust, and blind understanding.

After their first phase of being newly in love as well as relieved to have survived the war passed, Ginny and Harry lost themselves in the delusions of their perfect romance. At first, they started to lose themselves as a couple: they didn't reserve time for special dates, romantic strolls or hours spent together, instead, they solely focused on their education, battles with war traumas (Ginny) or rebuilding the Wizarding world (Harry). Consequently, they became estranged from each other, didn't know how to react or what to talk about, when they were alone and lost the love, connection and trust between them. Sure, they still loved each other in some ways and would always hold a special place in each other's hearts, but their love transformed into a love between good friends: without the urges to tear each other's clothes off, need to touch each other constantly, want to kiss each other good-night or wish to spend their whole lives, as a couple happily in love, together. After stopping to exist as the inseparable couple "Ginny and Harry", Ginny and Harry started to exist as themselves, two foreign planets, albeit, in the case of Ginny, she lost herself in the grief, sorrow, scars, and traumas after the war. She stopped fighting for her dreams, searching for her happiness or believing in herself, because she only wallowed in the despair, self-pity, traumas, and darkness without seeing a light on the horizon. At that time, she thought, if she could die any minute and stop existing, the only important thing in her life was the safety, closeness, and happiness of her loved ones, because all her achievements, fame or riches didn't matter in the end. So she should stay close to her family, stop burdening them with her sorrows, act like a model daughter and focus on realistic life goals. Consequently, Ginny visited the Burrow as often as she could, hid her sorrows behind a mask of fake happiness to not add something to her mum's issues, worked as a secretary at a secured, common ministry post and buried her dreams of studying fashion design and business economics in London. But this new outlook on life made Ginny utterly unhappy because she didn't recognize herself anymore and felt like a little, society-approved robot, that didn't have an own mind or heart so that it only fulfilled the expectations of others and stopped living for herself. The only difference between them was, that Ginny in reality still had a mind, that analyzed the reasons for her unhappiness razor-sharp, but still couldn't encourage her to do something about it. Only her heart-to-heart talk with Sage opened her eyes wide and helped her to change her life drastically.

Ginny shook off her depressing thoughts, focussed on her fast-approaching date with Sage and studied the Muggle Café with a keen eye. Thanks to her dad's fascination with anything Muggle, Ginn and her siblings grew up with many mysterious Muggle items and a deep respect for their creativity and inventive genius. Although her dad couldn't explain the functioning of most items to them and tried to use them in a practical way, Ginny's interests in the foreign, easy-going and marvelous Muggle culture and universe grew, so that she registered for Muggle studies in Hogwarts. Due to the lessons of the now deceased Charity Burbage, she could identify some Muggle devices like a television, a coffee machine, a computer or a toaster and knew about their love for animated movies, fast cars or a game called football. In this Café, she recognized a huge Muggle coffee machine, a cooling counter with many different, delicious looking cakes – apple cake, cheesecake, chocolate cake, fruit cakes, Gugelhupf, buttercream gateau – muffins, cupcakes, and desserts as well as an odd looking Muggle gadget which baked waffles. Everything was decorated in friendly, light beige tones: the walls were painted with a bright golden beige, the ceiling with a warm brown beige and the ground was covered by an expensive looking, warm cherry wood floor. Besides that, the upholstery of the chairs, benches and seating corners was made of soft, comfortable, decorated with regal looking ornaments, grey beige viscose, and the tablecloths were made of classic, grey beige silk. The only colorful spots were the bright pink flowers vases, that graced every table and were filled with white-pink, heavenly smelling roses, the bright pink lampshades, that hang from the ceiling above every table and a, composed of pink, white, powder and light green colors, painting of a lovely, typical English rose garden, that graced the wall opposite the glass façade. Ginny liked the café's calming atmosphere, friendly color pattern and classic design because it helped her to compose her frantically beating heart and calm her nerves down.

Ginny had been enthusiastically working on new fashion sketches for Sage's working clothes while happily humming one of her favorite songs, as his black owl, with the invitation to a lunch date in the London café "Rose garden" at 4 PM securely tied up on its left leg, knocked on her window, landed on her window-sill, hooded two times loudly and waited impatient for her to open her window. After she had opened the window, let the owl in and released it from its message, she fed it a cookie and sat at her desk to read the message. While reading it, a beaming smile graced her face and her amber eyes started to sparkle out of happiness, thanks to the fact, that Sage missed her, wanted to go on a lunch date with her at 4 PM and made the first step. Hastily, she searched for her parchment, quill as well as ink and after finding it, she penned him the following short response, which she tied on the leg of his waiting owl.

 _Dear Sage,_

 _I'm overjoyed by your message and your invitation to a lunch date at 4 PM today, albeit I'm sorry to hear about your bad day in office. I hope that you still could do something productive today. I'll gladly accept your invite because I could really use a break from drawing fashion sketches and long to see you again. Can't wait for our date to begin._

 _Yours_

 _Ginny_

Frantically searching for the right outfit to impress Sage without over-doing it, Ginny settled on a forest green, knee-length and slim-fitted sheath skirt, a cream, elegant and form-fitted silk blouse with a low neckline and a little, pink rose pattern on her right sleeve, forest green ankle boots and pink Corundum roségold jewelry: a solitaire ring in roségold with a huge pink Corundum surrounded by a sparkling white Zirconia-Pavé, cushion-formed Brisur-earrings in roségold with pink Corundums in a hammered optic surrounded by sparkling a sparkling white Zirconia-Pavé and a necklace in roségold with a huge pink Corundum charm in a hammered optic surronded by a sparkling white Zirconia-Pavé; all heirlooms from her maternal grandaunt, Matilda Prewett. Regarding her makeup and hair, Ginny opted for a natural look: minimal pink silver eyeshadow, black mascara, light pink rogue and shiny, rosé lipgloss as well as her natural wavy red hair. Ginny hoped to radiate feminine elegance, sensuality, and happiness because she really wanted to test the waters for a potential romance with Sage.

A sensual, deep baritone directing the words, "Hello, Ginny. I'm so glad that you could join me today and I must apologize for being a bit late, but the London traffic really is a disgrace sometimes. Have you already ordered anything?", made Ginny snap out of her thoughts and created a queasy feeling in her stomach. As she looked Sage into his obsidian eyes, her emotions went on a rollercoaster ride in the midst of the "Rose Garden".


	13. Chapter 12 - Flying thoughts

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope that you still like my story and am honored by your views (+1k). Special thanks to_ _ **jam99chgo**_ _for your kind review and_ _ **falling for grace**_ _for adding my fanfic to your alert list. It really makes my day and motivates me to update._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 12 – Flying thoughts**

 _ **Café "Rose Garden", Muggle London, January 2000**_

Sage Prince hurried in quick steps into the Muggle café "Rose Garden", rounding passersby, that were talking in hushed tones to their mobile phones or tourists, that were trotting through London with packed backpacks on their backs, cameras hanging around their necks and a mag clutching in their hands. How he hated the busy street life and traffic of Muggle London. Although as a Half-Blood he knew some things about Muggle culture and their technical inventions, the speed of their "Digitale Revolution" overwhelmed him: larger mobiles, SMS, MMS, Chats, transportable PCs, faster internet. Sage didn't know what the fuss was all about and couldn't use a PC or couldn't imagine what space the Internet was like. He knew that it was a shame, that he didn't keep up with his Muggle roots. But since he had loathed his father, who never educated him about the Muggle culture besides beers, liquor, boxing, and football, it wasn't important for him to be a valuable member of the Muggle society.

It sufficed him to know how to drive a car, listen to popular music or using the underground, he didn't want to be a model Half-Blood, who could transfer easily between the Muggle and the Wizarding world because he felt alien in a Muggle city, alienated from his magical powers and potion skills. Besides that, he couldn't be a model citizen in Great-Britain anyway because he didn't have a Muggle education besides Elementary School, wasn't registered in any documents besides his birth certificate and didn't have enough knowledge in history, politics and science or skills in small talk, social behavior and managing your bank accounts, to vote for parliament or survive in the Muggle world. Sure, he knew how to buy food in a grocery store or how to travel via plane, bus or train, but he couldn't file a tax return or buy real estate for himself. And it really didn't matter that much to him, because the Wizarding world was his home and it was enough for him to know how to dress and act like a Muggle to don't be stared at as some freak in public.

In addition, he loved to eat at a Muggle restaurant or café, visit a Muggle museum or see a movie in the Muggle cinemas so that he was glad to know how to behave in the Muggle world. But one thing he really despised about the Muggle society was its constant racket, rush and time pressure. The people he sometimes studied from his hotel suite window were constantly running, talking to someone on the phone or reading something in the news. It seemed like they didn't spend one minute of their day reflecting their actions, relaxing on a couch or thinking about new ideas, because they constantly moved, worked or talked. So, in his opinion, it wasn't a miracle that some Muggles cracked under the pressure and chaos at one point, often when they were in traffic. Insulting a biker, who had been driving slowly, aggressively on the trip to work, crashing deliberately into a rude car driver, who had ignored one's right of way, or flipping a passer-by, who had laughed about one's skills at parking a car, a bird. In Sage's books, the daily stop-and-go traffic in London resembled a war zone and he was glad when he survived it without major injuries or insults, although his wasted time was a great nuisance. Therefore, Sage was glad that he arrived at the café "Rose Garden" late but safe.

He really hoped that Ginny would forgive him his unpunctuality and wouldn't think, that he wanted to stand her up. On the contrary, he longed to see her beautiful face again, hear her honest opinions and work on some new ideas for their working clothesline. If he was being honest, he didn't want to see Ginny primarily to talk about their fashion plans. He didn't want to meet her as a business partner but as a friend and possibly a love interest. Sure, Sage knew that he was about to speed things up in their relationship really fast and his chances for conquering Ginny's hear were slim because she suffered under her failed romance with Harry, didn't know him long and well enough and worked frantically on her career as a fashion designer so that she hadn't got the time and mind to look for romance, but he promised himself to confess some truths – having the hots for her, wanting to get to know her better, engaging in a romance with her. If she rejected him, he would admittedly be really devastated, but he would still be a friend to her, so that he would still be listening to her sorrows, give her some advice, pay her tuition fees and work with her on their working clothesline. Sure, he would do all these things with a broken heart and the feeling of being unloveable once again, but he hoped that he could be wizard enough to swallow his hurt feelings and support Ginny unconditionally on her quest for happiness.

Besides that, Sage felt, that Ginny was attracted to him because she sometimes gazed adoringly at him, blushed at his compliments or looked deep into his eyes with a look of wonder and happiness so that he might stand a chance after all. Therefore, he decided to throw all caution to the wind and go for it. His chances of finding love, sharing his life with his soulmate and being happy might be higher as he had ever dreamed about. Consequently, he did everything to impress his love interest. He had arranged a cozy date with apple cake and tea in a romantic Muggle café, clutched a lovely bouquet of pink roses in his hand and dressed himself up. He was clad in a smart black, tailored suit: a slim-fitted dark forest green shirt, midnight black trousers as well as jacket and shiny black Oxford shoes in calf leather. In addition, he styled his raven black short hair with hair gel into a neat hairstyle and wore his favorite perfume "Aqua di Gio" by Giorgio Armani, a fragrance with an aquatic, woody and aromatic scent thanks to its unique mix of citrus, geranium, sage, rosemary, patchouli and incense, after he had left his laboratory one hour ago to change and shower in his London flat. He wanted to look his best to woo her.

Sage realized, that his chances to woo Ginny only existed because he had been de-aged, visited a Medidentist to fix his crooked, yellow teeth, adjusted his multiple time's broken nose via a Healing Charm so that it was still huger than average, but straight, washed his shortened hair daily with a self-developed shampoo against greasiness and potions residues and worked out thrice a week. As his old self, Severus Snape, he wouldn't have a single chance to be her friend or possibly lover because she would have rejected his interests at first sight. Sure, some women had overlooked his unattractive looks and prickly personality in favor of his mysterious aura, onyx black eyes, and magical powers, so that he had some flings and one-night stands as Severus Snape as well. Sure, most of these women were groupies of the Death Eaters or dark witches themselves, who used him to gain favor with the Dark Lord or express their dark sides, but occasionally, he also had a one-night stand with a Muggle woman he met at a bar or some old female Slytherin housemates. Due to his obsession with Lily, he could never love any of these women and their affairs didn't go beyond sexual satisfaction. Besides his obsession with Lily, his role as a spy would have also prevented him from being in a serious relationship, married an/or having kids, because his loved ones would have been leverage to guarantee his loyalty or manipulate his actions, especially since the Dark Lord would have expected of him to educate his children in the Death Eaters ideology and rule over his wife. So, in retrospective, Sage was glad that he didn't have any family to care for and protect during the Wizarding Wars because they would have been in constant danger and made his living as a spy only more difficult.

In addition, Sage never had the dream of being a dad because he feared, that he would be rubbish at it. Thanks to his father being an abusive, violent and mean role model, Sage believed, that he would apply the educational methods of his bastard of a father – beating, screaming, bullying – intentionally, regardless how much he wanted to avoid them. He realized, that this fear was completely illogical because he was his own person, who could control his emotions and actions as well as spare his potential children his miserable childhood, so that he could shower them in affections, protect them from harm and educate them with values, morals, and manners, but he still believed in the power of the vicious cycle of violence, therefore images of an older version of him screaming at a little boy with his eyes haunted him in his nightmares. His fresh start at life gave him the opportunity, to overthink his opinion about fatherhood and reflect his attitude regarding kids.

Due to his donations for "The War Orphans Funds" or his fundings for a new orphanage, Sage constantly heard about the sufferings of many children after the war. He saw their hollow eyes, sad expressions, and hopeless mindstate, whenever he visited the orphanage, with his own eyes and their fates moved him deeply. So deeply, that he could imagine himself adopting an orphan in the near future, to gift him/her with a happier, wealthier and easier life, but especially to show them the meaning of love and family. Sure, he knew, that a life with him wouldn't be easy for any child because he knew very little about caring for a child or how to bring him/her up, but he promised himself to be him/her the best dad imaginable. Besides, as Sage Prince, it was expected of him to marry a lovely wife and have some children with her in the future to transmit his name, wealth, real estate and potions company, so he had opened up to the topics of fatherhood and married life. Although he never really thought it possible to find love and happiness in his life.

His chance meeting with Ginny Weasley in the pub a few days ago changed this drastically. He now was sure, that he could live a happy life full of love, laughter, and success with Ginny by his side. Sure, he realized, that he was a fool for rushing everything so quick in his mind and dreaming about his happily ever after, especially since he suffered from his delusional Lily-obsession from the age of fourteen, but he knew from the bottom of his heart, that with Ginny everything would be different. On the one hand, he felt a deep, soulmate like connection to her unlike anything else he felt for another human being because they could understand each other blindly and help one another to heal, grow up and be happy. On the other hand, he knew, that she would never exclude him from her life or cancel any contact between them thanks to prejudices, insults or fights because she accepted his dark as well as his bright sides and learned in her life, that the world and humans couldn't always be divided into black and white, dark and light or evil and good due to the different shades of grey that existed. Consequently, he trusted that he could count on her in every difficult phase in his life and he intended to be there for her in every way possible as well. So, Sage stepped with a fast pumping heart into the "Rose Garden" with the determined mindset to woo Ginny.


	14. Chapter 13 - Midday confessions, Part I

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope, that you still like reading my story, thank you for your support and encourage you to leave me some feedback with constructive critic. Special thanks to_ _ **IAriannei**_ _for adding this story to your alert list. It really put a smile on my face._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 13 – Midday confessions, Part I**

 _ **Café "Rose Garden", Muggle London, January 2000**_

Sage breathed in the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and tea, fresh-baked cakes, biscuits, and muffins and admired the artfully decorated homemade cupcakes and cakes as he stepped into the "Rose Garden". It was his favorite Muggle café in London because its cakes and tea tasted absolutely delicious and its atmosphere was always bright, friendly and calm thanks to its beige color scheme, huge window, and well-mannered customers. With a wildly beating heart, Sage searched the face of Ginny in the crowded space. At first, he couldn't spot her vibrant wavy dark red hair, so that his closely hidden insecurities resurfaced, his heart missed a beat and he felt a sharp pain manifest itself in his chest. Naturally, it seemed like his ambitious dream of a romance or at least close friendship with Ginny burst into thousand pieces before he even had the chance to confess his feelings to her. Sage was so devastated, that he initially wanted to turn around and leave the café with a sad expression and sloping shoulders. It really seemed like romance wasn't something for him.

But as he looked frantically around for a familiar redhead for the second time, he made her out sitting at a cozy table for two and looking lost in her thoughts, because she gazed with a fixed stare in her lovely amber eyes at some point in the distance. Sage admired her beauty discreetly for some minutes. She really did look lovely, like a freshly blossomed English rose, in her forest green, curve-hugging, and knee-length sheath skirt, her cream, form-fitted and low-necked silk blouse and her modest, high-heeled forest green ankle boots. Her pink jewelry sparkled in the rare sunbeams that grazed the café's window and her natural makeup radiated a unique glow of feminine beauty. If he hadn't been attracted by her like a bear by honey before, he would have surely fallen for her in this moment. Sage tried to calm his frantically beating heart, keep his cool and announce his presence silently to Ginny.

He wanted to surprise and impress her so that she would be more open to his advances by looking his best and radiating an aura of mystery, intrigue, and confidence. Nonetheless, he was overjoyed that Ginny hadn't stood him up or left the cafè due to his tardiness, because – in his opinion – it indicated her interest in him and gave him hope to conquer her. He knew, that he logically couldn't conquer any woman because all women were strong, independent and intelligent self-made modern females with their own mindsets, feelings, dreams, body rights and opinions, who couldn't be conquered like a ship or castle as if they were an unanimated object. He would never disrespect the rights, wishes, and feelings of any women by doing anything to her without her explicit – verbally and non-verbally expressed – consent, so that he would have to await her reaction to his confession to see, if she could possibly return his feelings and wished to explore their connection in a romantic way. Regardless of what her reaction would be, Sage vowed to respect her decision nonetheless and be a good friend to her. If she didn't want to date him, he wouldn't be angry at her, refuse to see her in the future and cancel their planned working clothesline, because Sage was beyond this petty drama and wouldn't destroy her chances of becoming a famed fashion designer by sabotaging her career due to his hurt feelings.

He knew from hurtful experiences, that you couldn't compel love, feelings of attraction or sympathy. If you couldn't woo your crush by being yourself, looking your best and being there for her, you needed to face the hard truth head-on: your feelings were unrequited and you couldn't change anything about it. Everything you tried to evoke with a disguised personality or some childish tricks, could never last because it was all based on lies. Therefore, you needed to accept and respect the wishes of beloved under any circumstances, even if your heart bled and you felt miserable by only being a good friend to her.

Therefore, Sage hated the art of love potion brewing or the invention of love charms/spells, although love potions were a required topic in the Potions curriculum at Hogwarts and almost every schoolgirl dreamed of gaining her crush's love – if need be – by administering a love potion to him/her and joke shops like the "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" legally sold a mild variation for a laugh to their oftentimes underaged, mischievous customers and love spells legally circulated around on Valentines Day or Christmas to initiate kisses between star-crossed lovers or shy silent admirers, because they deprived one of one's free will and consent. Consequently, they not only violated the concepts of mutual consent and personal rights in matters of the heart but also created a fake romance based on lies, deceit and criminal energy, that could never develop into a healthy relationship based on love, trust, respect, and honesty. Hence, any romance generated via magical means only ended in tragedy and heartbreak: failed marriages, violent spouses, unhappy lives, unloved children and destroyed dreams.

In Sage's books, the use of love potions and love charms/spells should be drastically punished by the mighty Wizengamot, their production methods excluded from the Potions curriculums at any magical school and their sale in any store forbidden, because they compelled the mind of their victims and robbed them of their free will, so that they worked strikingly similar to one of the Unforgivable Curses, the Imperius Curse, that placed its victims completely under the control of its caster. In both cases, the victims suffered from a complete lack of free will, with the result, that their personal rights were violated and they acted out of their mind. Therefore, Sage fought with many other witches and wizards passionately to change the regulations and laws concerning magical means to enchant love, lust or affection.

Sage tried to clear his mind of these sinister, dark topics because he wanted to stay focused on how to woo Ginny and confess his crush on her. He took a deep breath, encouraged himself in his thoughts and walked confidently to her table. It was time to stop dreaming and start acting, risk something because he couldn't win anything without opening up to her about his emotions and thoughts. He didn't want to make the same mistakes again by not telling his beloved about his feelings because he had learned that it was essential in matters of the heart to speak up, risk everything and face one's fears due to the fact that one's beloved was oftentimes blind to one's feelings. Besides that, he had learned the hard way, that bottling everything up, waiting for the supposedly right moment and hiding your emotions wasn't the successful way to find happiness, love, and contentment. Staying silent wasn't gold in this case, but only the sign of surrendering oneself to one's own cowardice, fears, and insecurities.

Thence, Sage stepped into Ginny's view, gazed her in her warm amber eyes and addressed her in his deep, sensual baritone,"Hello, Ginny. I'm so glad that you could join me today and I must apologize for being a bit late, but the London traffic really is a disgrace sometimes. Have you already ordered anything?". He noticed by the widening of Ginny's eyes, her little startle, and her confused expression, that he must have snapped her out of her deep thoughts. At first, he only looked sheepishly at her, but as he noticed her little-embarrassed blush and apologetically look, he decided to stop her self-torturing thought process by taking some pressure off her. It seemed like Ginny also wanted to impress him and was now under the impression, that she had failed miserably at first sight with her plan.

"Ginny, don't torment yourself for zoning out into your own thoughts in public because it really happens like at least four times a day to me. Believe me, I can understand, that sometimes so many different ideas, concerns or hopes can occupy your mind so that you lose yourself in them. For a fact, I promised you to be honest with you, so that I need to confess something to you: I'm not only a little late thanks to the London traffic but also thanks to my stray thoughts. On the whole day, it was really difficult for me to stay focused on my work – I researched in a potions book complex interactions between different ingredients because my experimental potion went wrong and I have no clue why – but I kept being lost in other thoughts. Actually, if I'm totally honest and talk bluntly, my mind was preoccupied with thoughts about you, Ginny.

And I must say, that your glowing beauty really is a sight for my sore eyes. I really can't fathom how I got this lucky to be your date today. So, rest assured, that everyone gets preoccupied with their thoughts sometimes, so it's normal and not a negative personality trait, that would change my positive impression of you and your work as a designer. In the contrary, it makes you even more human and sympathetic, although I thought, that this wasn't even possible because you show me your real self without any pretense and masks. And showing your true self to someone you only met a few days ago, albeit you share a deep connection and might be kindred spirits, is a brave, trustful and beautiful thing to do and really blows my mind because it indicates how much you enjoy and can be yourself in my company. There couldn't be a greater compliment to me," Sage ended his monologue, that should encourage Ginny to show her true self to him and emphasize their mutual understanding. He really hoped that Ginny wasn't only nervous and self-assured to talk to him because of their business relationship, but although due to her wish to impress him like a young woman, who wanted to impress her date thanks to her attraction to him.

Sage registered, that Ginny exchanged a thankful look with him, before she replied, "Sage, I must really thank you for your lunch invitation because I also wanted to meet you as soon as possible and thanks to this desire had difficulties to concentrate on my new designs so that I'm overjoyed about this tea-time break. I also don't rate your lateness as a no-go and offense to my person, because I know how times flies sometimes, as you could clearly witness one moment ago. Also, I'm flattered by your compliments. You should really stop making me blush unless you want that I resemble a beetroot in the near future. But I can only return the compliments, you look really handsome today and I can't believe that you – some rich, socially engaged, handsome and mysterious guy with a big heart – would want to meet me – some broken, self-absorbed and lost in her dreams of being a famous fashion designer chick - listen to my sorrows and encourage me to fulfill my dreams. But I'm grateful for your friendship nonetheless. And perhaps we can even turn it into something more if you are inclined to it. For I feel with every fiber of my heart that I can trust you with my feelings and place my heart into your hands," Ginny answered him directly and shocked Sage with her bluntness.


	15. Chapter 14 - Midday confessions, Part II

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope, that you still like reading my story, thank you for your support and encourage you to leave me some feedback with constructive critic. Special thanks to_ _ **Saki31**_ _for adding this story to your alert list and favorites list. It really put a smile on my face._

 _Best regards,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 14 – Midday Confessions, Part II**

 _ **Café "Rose Garden", Muggle London, January 2000**_

Sage was speechless. He couldn't believe his ears at first because Ginny really seemed to want to engage in a romantical relationship with. "Wow, she puts her heart into my hands. I can't fathom it. There is this beautiful, attractive and creative young witch, who wants to be my lover. She even seems to be insecure about my feelings, because she keeps looking shyly at me. Come on, Sage. Confess your feelings, because this really seems like a huge chance for you to find happiness, love, and companionship. Go get the girl!", a tiny, enthusiastic voice encouraged Sage inside his head.

With a beaming smile on his face, Sage addressed Ginny. "Ginny, I can't believe, that you would want to strike up a romantical relationship with me. I'm really overjoyed because I can't stop thinking about you, I'm attracted to your inner and outer beauty and I feel a special bond between us thanks to our dramatic pasts. I know, that you're officially still in a relationship with your boyfriend, albeit I believe you, that it has fizzled out and that you are currently more living like sister and brother than a couple, and would like you to be sure that you're ready for a new romance with me. I don't want to be some revenge hookup for you. So, are you sure, that you want to take our friendship to a romantically level?" Sage looked Ginny deeply into her amber eyes, trying to transport his sincerity and love into her heart. He really wanted to have a go at a romance with Ginny, because he felt in his heart, that they would be terrific together and help each other be happy, content and better persons. But he also feared, that Ginny would see him only as a rebound, although he tried to cast away the tinny voice inside his head, that implied such.

Ginny broke out into a heartfelt laugh as she saw Sage's sheepish facial expression full of self-doubts, insecurities, and fears. She really couldn't believe, that this handsome, kindhearted and intelligent guy feared to be rejected by her. She always knew that she was exceptionally attracted to handsome, brave and honest guys with shiny raven black hair, impressive eyes, and a nice smile, her obsession with Harry since her teens was a testament for this. But she never expected, to fall so fast for a total stranger. Ok, she knew, that he wasn't a stranger to her because she felt a deep, honest connection to him. If she had been one of these teenaged girls, who loved to read fairy tales, make plans for their dream wedding and consumed sappy romance novels or movies, she surely would call him her Prince Charming, because he could make her smile, feel hopeful for her future and rescued her from her unhappiness. He gave her a new purpose in life – studying fashion design, working on his working clothesline, searching for her happiness – and she thanked the fates, Merlin or whoever was responsible for their chance meeting for bringing him into her life. She realized, that she acted crazy for trusting him so naively with her heart without knowing much about his ideals, character traits, idiosyncrasy or values, but she had an unexplainable gut feeling, that they would work out perfectly together and live in a happy, fulfilling and healthy relationship.

Putting any guilty feelings towards Harry aside, Ginny decided, that she wanted to do what felt right and made her happy. And at this moment, nothing could have made her heart flutter faster and her mind being so at ease than a romance with Sage. So Ginny beamed at him, reached over the tiny table to reach his right hand, squeezed it lovingly and replied to him with happily beaming light brown eyes.

"Oh, Sage. I don't want to use you as some quick rebound to get over my failed romance with Harry. I'm actually a little offended, that you would expect something like that from me and don't know how a gave you this impression. But I will stop being mad at you for this absurd thought because it is surely born of your insecurities and fears of rejection. I realize that my relationship with Harry must be a sore spot for you because I haven't called it quits with him yet and the whole Magical world still thinks, that we are a happy, in love couple. But I can assure you, that this isn't the case at all. We both aren't in love with each other anymore, barely see or talk to one another and live like platonic friends without passionate kisses, intimate touches or declarations of love for at least six months.

So, you don't have to fear, that you could lose me to Harry again. I'll break up with him at end of February because he is currently out of Britain – I believe in Russia, hunting down some dark wizards and learning more about the Dark Arts, as a part of his Auror training – so that I will only see him near the end of February again. I don't want to end our relationship via an owl or a Patronus message because he deserves some honest explanations for my reasons in a heart-to-heart talk that I can only have in person with him. Therefore, you must accept my official status of being in a relationship, if you want to be romantically involved with me.

But don't get me wrong. Our relationship won't be a hushed-up illicit love affair until my break-up with Harry. Sure, we need to keep it secret in the Magical world, because me cheating on Harry would cause a huge media scandal, but we can still go on dates in the Muggle world or spent time together in your apartment. I don't like this hide and seek any more than you do and would preferably walk hand and hand through Diagon Alley, eat out at the best Wizard restaurants or enjoy a lovely stroll through the Magic Forest near Coventry, so that the whole world could see our happiness, but this wouldn't be fair to Harry and could damage your reputation. I don't want to cause you or your Potions company any negative headlines, that could possibly discourage investors, clients or customers and cast a shadow on your charity work, groundbreaking Potions research and inventions or spotless character.

Consequently, we need to keep our romance low key in the first month. But I want you to know, that I'm absolutely sure and honest about my feelings for. I can't really explain them myself because I never felt anything so real and deep for someone after such a short time. I think about you all the time, space out into daydreams about some lovely strolls, romantic dates or passionate kisses and every time a hear your voice, see your face or read your words, my heart starts beating faster. So, yes, Sage. I would love to be your beloved and get to know all of you."

Ginny gazed at him lovingly, squeezed his hand again lightly and awaited with bated breath his reaction. To her utter surprise, Sage squeezed her hand back, beamed at her with gleaming onyx black eyes and broke out into a deep, happy sounding laughter. After he composed himself, he managed to express his happiness and gratitude. Ginny thought, that his laugh was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard because it stemmed from the bottom of his heart.

"Oh, Ginny. I can't express how happy I'm. I know that keeping our love secret will be a difficult obstacle, but I understand your reasoning. If I were in a long-term relationship right now, that had fizzled out some months ago and couldn't make me happy anymore, I would want to break it off after an honest talk too. Especially, if my girlfriend was a close friend of mine and someone, I experienced many tragedies, victories, sad and happy hours with. So, I support your decision to wait with your break-up till the end of February. But I must warn you, that I'm easily jealous and quite possessive of my beloved, so I might sometimes erupt into a silly, jealous rant and jump to conclusions.

In my logical mind, I know, that I can trust you unconditionally and that you would never hurt me intentionally or be unfaithful. But in some moments, my mind blacks out and my unsure, often broken heart controls my actions and block out my reason so that I might act impulsively and unfairly towards you. Therefore, don't take these outbursts to heart and try to reason with me in a calm voice. Although I never really had a long-term romantically relationship, I can promise you, trying to be the best boyfriend out there. I will tell you every day, that I love you, encourage you to fulfill your dreams, support your decisions, respect your wishes and be there for you in good and bad times. I will never ever raise my hand to you and if I should ever treat you horrible or start getting violent with me, you urge you to leave me without a second glance.

Because I know, how toxic, hurtful and wrong an abusive relationship is – thanks to my violent bastard of a stepfather – and that an abuser might say that he is sorry, will stop his beatings, mockings, and mortifications and loves you, but these are all lies. Then, in reality, an abuser never stops to control, hurt or humiliate his supposed loved ones, because he feels powerful and valuable whenever he carries out an abusive act. So, I urge you, to leave me as soon as possible if I ever get violent with you. I only say that, because I was raised in an abusive home and I could never forgive myself to destroy you like my stepfather destroyed my vibrant, happy and beautiful mother. By the time she died, she had been a shell from the woman I loved in my early childhood. So, you have to promise me, to leave me by the first sign of violence."

Sage ended his talk in a somber voice and with a sad expression on his face. Ginny was stunned by his admission, but she understood, that is steemed from a ghost that haunted him since his childhood: to turn into his violent, abusive stepfather overnight. Ginny could relate to his fears of becoming someone, you don't want to be and try with all your powers to avoid. So, although his quickly changing emotions from happiness to sadness concerned her a little bit, she could understand his inner battles with persistent ghosts from his past all too well and decided to give moral uplift to him, especially since she knew, that he was a kind, caring and good person, who would never hurt her or any other women.

"Sage, I'm flabbergasted by your honesty and your admission really shows me, how much you trust and love me. But I'm not afraid of you, because I know, that you aren't your stepfather. You're a good, honest and kind man with set morals, admirable values, and strong beliefs, who would never hurt women physically. So, I can assure you, that I will not think about leaving you for anything. I want to start this romance with you because I feel attracted and deeply connected to you as well as secure in your company. So, don't be afraid to show me your true self, because I know, that it is beautiful, witty and kindhearted."

Sage was so overwhelmed by Ginny's trust and love as well as moved by her words, that he stood abruptly up from his chair, closed the distance between them, took Ginny's face with a grateful look in his obsidian eyes, lightly as if she was a porcelain doll, that could break any minute, in his hands and gave her a tender kiss on her cheek. He whispered in a raspy, baritone voice into her ear, "Thank you so much for being my love and believing in me, when I'm not able to do it myself. You're are a true, beautiful miracle, my beloved Ginny."


	16. Chapter 15 - The art of potion brewing

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope, that you still like reading my story, thank you for your support and encourage you to leave me some feedback with constructive criticism._

 _Best regards,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 15 – The art of potion brewing**

 _ **Café "Rose Garden", Muggle London, January 2000**_

Ginny blushed a bright shade of pink. She couldn't believe, that Sage reciprocated her feelings and paid her this flattering, her heartbeat accelerating compliments. For the first time in her life, she felt truly desired, beautiful and self-confident. Sure, Harry had paid her some compliments at the beginning of their romance and couldn't get enough of her sexually, but he had never been someone, who expressed his feelings openly and showered her with affections in public. So, receiving a gentle, innocent kiss onto her cheek in the middle of a café was a new experience for her. She basked in the raspy feeling of his subtle midnight black stubble gracing her chin and the swooning feeling of his thin, slightly curved soft lips touching her cheek. A warm feeling settled inside her heart and she would love nothing better than to kiss him soundly on this lips, but she was self-conscious about their public display of affection and wanted to share this first kiss with him alone. Therefore, she sighed only dreamily, beamed at him with a radiant smile and caressed his face lovingly.

After a short moment of enjoying his touch, she moved her head back, squeezed his hand and implored him to sit down again, before she addressed him in a cheerful voice, "Sage, you never have to thank me for believing in the goodness of your heart. I know, that you experienced many dark hours in your past and regret some of your actions terribly, but I can see your true self and this is bright, caring and kindhearted. I'm really flattered by your compliments because no one made me ever feel as beautiful and special as you do. Your kiss was the softest, gentlest kiss I ever had the pleasure to receive and if we weren't in a public Muggle cafè right know, I couldn't have stopped myself from snogging you senseless. But I want our first kiss to be a private, intimate moment between us so that I preserve it for another day.

Regarding the fact, that we are in a Muggle café, I think, that it would be rude of us not to order anything. And if I'm completely honest, I'm actually quite hungry because I skipped my lunch due to my designing muse. Besides that, these cherry cupcakes and blueberry muffins do look delicious and I could really use some milk coffee. During our little coffee date, you can tell me everything about your research troubles cause they really intrigue me. Although I must confess, that I'm no genius in Potions, I'm quite proficient in brewing Healing Potions and discussing the different interactions of potions' ingredients. Besides that, sometimes you need to share your thoughts with someone new and two minds can detect more than one. So, what do you want to order, Sage?," Ginny inquired with an imploring look into his onyx black, dazed eyes.

Sage was still on cloud nine and touched his face absentmindedly on the spot, where she had caressed it with her delicate, soft hands. His mind still couldn't process, that he now was in a relationship with this lovely, beautiful and intelligent women. Hell, if he didn't know for sure, that he wasn't dreaming, he would pinch himself repeatedly in his arm. Never in his life had he felt so loved and cherished as now. Sure, he probably rushed some things and he shouldn't get his hopes up, that his future with Ginny would be all sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns, but he couldn't help himself. He needed to be close to her, touch her and share his happiness. Normally, he wasn't some guy, who exchanged kisses in public or declared his feelings openly because he valued his privacy and feared rejection.

But in his second life, he wanted to enjoy his newfound happiness, live like any day could be his last and display his feelings carefree and openly. The times, when he had to hide his true self, emotions, and memories behind a strong, impenetrable mental shield and cold mask of indifference and cruelty to not be exposed as a traitor in the midst of the Death Eaters, were thankfully over. For the first time in his life, he could live freely and share his life with a special someone. He intended to share all his victories and losses, dreams and fears, hopes and concerns with Ginny and be the best friend and boyfriend imaginable.

Naturally, he would make mistakes. A nagging voice inside his head brought his deceitful identity to his attention, but he managed to block it out by focusing his mind on Ginny's radiating beauty and happy smile. He would do anything to see her smiling like this. And if he needed to keep his de-aged identity secret for that, he would do it wholeheartedly and without any second thoughts. He trusted, that Ginny would forgive him his deceitful play after an earth-shattering, air-cleaning fight and some time to think because she would realize that he was Sage Prince, the good-hearted, caring and life rescuing Potions researcher, now and that Severus Snape had been only his cold, hideous mask. Sage dispelled his doubts by his decision, to look positive ahead and enjoy his date with Ginny.

Therefore, he returned her warm smile and answered her, "Ginny, you are absolutely right. We should order something as soon as possible and I'm also quite famished because I also skipped my lunch in favor of reading some potions' books or daydreaming about you. I would like to order an apple pie slice because it actually tastes heavenly and a cup of coffee because it always re-energizes me. And I really appreciate your offer to help me detect my errors with the new potion's trial. I will inform you about the basics in a few minutes, but let us first order our drinks and pastries," Sage waved a bubbly, friendly smiling blond waitress over. She greeted them, holding a notepad and pen in her right hand and addressing them in a bell-like voice, "Hello, my name is Emma. I hope you like your stay in the "Rose Garden" so far. What do you want to order?".

Ginny returned her friendly smile and studied her outfit, while Sage ordered for them. She wore a nice cream unicoloured, knee-length modest dress with a mocha brown apron and as "Rose Garden" logo near her right breast, simple nude pumps, and classic, subtle golden jewelry. Ginny thought impressed, as she observed her talking pleasantly to Sage and writing their orders down, that the dress seemed to be made of high-quality material and had a nice, curve-hugging cut despite being only some working clothes. She vowed, that her working clothesline would also include classical cut, beautiful dresses, that the women would also be able to wear on social gatherings for Severus' company. Surely she could design a dress with the help of some charms, that would be wearable in a laboratory as well as in a social ball. She wanted, that it would be practical and glamours at the same time. Although this seemed like quite a difficult project, with the help of magic and a creative mind, everything seemed possible. She tried to store her new ideas in the back of her mind because she wanted to commit it to paper after her date with Sage.

But now wasn't the time to think about her working clothesline. Sure, Sage was her boss and she could talk to him about her new ideas. But she felt that he needed someone to talk to about his potions issues because they really seemed to drag him down and preoccupy his mind. She could brainstorm ideas for her working clothesline on another day this week. Besides that, it would be helpful, if she had some sketches to show him or some mind-maps to scribble on, so she should probably invite him to her make-shift atelier in Grimmauld Place or visit him in his office to discuss their working plans. In addition, she really wanted to relax from her ever-evolving design ideas and help Sage to solve his issues. Therefore, she expectantly looked at him after the waitress had left to prepare their orders.

Sensing her imploring look, Sage took a deep breath and began to talk about his bad day in office. "Ginny, I really appreciate your eagerness to help me and your interests in my job. Not everyone is as interested as you in Potions," here Sage thought bemused, that he knew about Ginny's talents and interests in Potions due to his teaching her for four years in the subtle art of potion brewing. She had always been an ambitious student, learned the different reactions between ingredients by heart, used every preparing method correctly and read the brewing instructions carefully. Consequently, her potions were always high-quality products, although she lacked the creativity and courage of her elder brothers Fred and George to develop unique potions or optimize existing one. He really was curious, if she had shown this creativity to alter some recipes or try something new, in her later years in Hogwarts, "most witches and wizards only regard it groaning as some foreign, complex science or disdainfully as some uninteresting, magic-free cooking lesson.

So, I'm glad that you seem to be one of the few people, who can see its appeal and importance. For potions are a great, powerful element of our world if they are brewed correctly. They can change your appearance, detect the truth, read your thoughts, make you fall in love, heal almost every one of your diseases and ailments in mere hours, kill you or fake your death. Therefore, every potioner is a powerful wizard or witch with the means to alter many lives. My team and I work on improving existing, discovering long-forgotten or creating new ground-breaking potions, antivenins or cures. Since a year, we try to create a cure for lycanthropy. I know, you might think, that it sounds like an impossible project, but we made great progress in the last months with a combination of a refined Wolfsbane Potion, newly developed Anti-Change Potion and a newly-developed stronger Pain Potion, so that our test subject stayed human in mind, experienced lesser pain and didn't transform his skin, his teeth, and feet.

We falsely thought that we could stop the transforming of his bone structure and eyes by heightening the Anti-Change elements in the potions, but we went somewhere wrong, because on the last full moon some days ago the unlicensed potion didn't work at all. Our test subject lost control despite the Wolfsbane Potion, suffered under an enormous amount of pain despite the enforced Pain Potion and changed into a wolf in all body parts despite the Anti-Change Potion. Because we only altered the recipe of the Anti-Change Potion, we conclude, that our newly added ingredient – fire seeds – interacted disastrously with the aconite, stuckweed, and willow bark of the other potions. Until now, it was never observed, that fire seeds had any adverse interactions with aconite, stuckweed or willow bark and we originally thought, that it could block the transformation of the blood and bone cells by burning out the lycanthropy virus. But it didn't work and backfire on us.

I can't think of any other ingredient, that would intensify the Anti-Change effects in the blood and bone cells and not interact negatively with any other ingredient. We need something, that could destroy or capture the lycanthropy virus. But I don't know what this could be. It needs to work like a net or fire that isolates or combust the virus without destroying the cells. So, Ginny. Do you know of any ingredient, that might fit my description? Or have you any idea, how I could think outside the box," Sage asked her feeling dejected and being at his wits' end. During his passionate speech, he hadn't even noticed, that the waitressed had brought them their drinks and pastries. Taking a gulp from his hot cup of coffee, Sage hoped, that Ginny could open his eyes to a new research road.


	17. Chapter 16 - Thinking outside the box

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _another update for you to enjoy. I hope, that you still like reading my story, thank you for your support and encourage you to leave me some feedback with constructive criticism. Special thanks to_ _ **LittlebigmouthOKC**_ _and_ _ **lydi13**_ _for adding my story to your alert list. It really helps me to stay motivated and update sooner._

 _Best regards,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 16 – Thinking outside the box**

 _ **Café "Rose Garden", Muggle London, January 2000**_

Ginny listened closely to Sage's words. She really wanted to help him solve this issue. Sure, she wasn't a Potions genius, but she had a creative mind and could think outside the box. Besides that, she had received an "O" in her Potions NEWT. That's why she really thought, that she might be able to help him. Hell, Professor Snape had drilled the best methods for brewing a potion, the correct technique for preparing its ingredients and the various adverse interactions between the ingredients in their heads.

Sure, Ginny didn't know everything about Potions and had only learned to experiment with different ingredients, adding orders and stirring patterns three years ago, but she nonetheless trusted in her abilities to come up with an unusual idea. Besides that, Sage's cause to invent, improve or discover new medicine, cures, antidotes or magical brews with various effects really made him stand out and sexy in her opinion. Ginny loved men, who could carry out a witty conversation without problems, tried to improve or save the lives of others and were both humorous and intelligent. She knew that Sage was her ideal dream man because he combined all these key factors with a handsome face, kind heart, and gentle soul despite battling his own demons.

Ginny nipped on her hot, sugary milk coffee and took a bite of her delicious blueberry muffin, thinking about any potions ingredient, that could fit the bill. Which ingredients destroyed or captured viruses without attacking the sane bone and blood cells of a human? And they could not interact negatively with aconite, stuckweed and willow bark? Something that worked similar to fire seeds but didn't destroy the anti-pain and anti-change elements of the potion? Ginny browsed through her mind for some minutes, eating her blueberry muffin absentmindedly and cataloging any know potions ingredients inside her head. Hell, she was really grateful, that Prof. Snape had hammered the different effects and uses of potions ingredients inside their head, albeit she couldn't come up with an ingredient easily.

But she wanted to help Sage because the research on a lycanthropy cure was dear to her hurt due to Bill's ailments and the deceased Remus Lupin's suffering as a werewolf. Besides that, the societal prejudices against and legal disadvantages of werewolves in the Wizarding world were still a controversial issue, and, albeit some improves had been made to allow werewolves to take on jobs more easily, werewolves still lived as outcasts and had huge problems to find well-paid jobs. Therefore, many wizarding families still hide infected family members away or were ashamed of them, and kids like Teddy Lupin, whose deceased dad was a werewolf, were bullied in kindergarten by other mean kids as a half-breed puppies and pitied by the media. So, Ginny wanted to do anything in her power to help them in some way. And if she could help Sage to think outside the box or consider to test a new ingredient, that could put his team of potioneers and herbologists one step closer to find a cure for lycanthropy, she would definitely use her chance. Thence, Ginny taxed her brain and decided to share her buzzing thoughts with Sage.

"Sage, I'm awed by your ground-breaking attempt to develop a cure against lycanthropy and change the lives of so many unfortunate wizards and witches. If you must know, that topic lies near to my heart, because my elder brother Bill got bitten by a werewolf – thankfully in his human form, so that he doesn't transform at every full moon into a wolf, but rather has developed a new fondness for raw meat – and one of my dearest friends, my best professors and the bravest fighters for the Light side in two wars, Remus Lupin, who tragically died in the Final Battle of Hogwarts alongside his beloved wife, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, leaving a beautiful Metamorphmagus baby boy orphaned, had been a werewolf since his childhood and suffered under the societal prejudices, legal restrictions and painful transformations his whole life. That's why I'm more than eager to help you think of a new ingredient and wrack my brain for the last several minutes. Until now, I could only come up with some rather faint ideas. But I think that some brainstorming might help us, therefore I'm going to disclose my ideas.

Foremost, I have thought about the venom of the fire-spitting Inyo toad because it is used in the right amount in common Healing Potions to destroy viruses or bacteria. I realize, that you most likely already tested it and that it might react negatively to the stuckweed, but perhaps one could extract its micro-organisms killing elements without transferring its stuckweed blocking tendencies. Second, the highly-dosed blood of the Hungarian Horntail combined with Eupatorium came to my mind because it reduces pain symptoms and could kill or block some viruses. Besides that, I thought about the properties of Bloodroot because it extracts kills animal cells. Perhaps it would be possible, to isolate the animal cell killing elements, specialize them to only kill with lycanthropy infected cells and transfer them inside a werewolf's organism. This should be possible with some other ingredients like Leech Juice or Mandrake Root. In addition, it would possibly be helpful to heighten the Anti-Change effects of the potion by using any form of a strengthening agent like Octopus Powder or stabilization factor like Honeywater. More didn't come to my mind until now. Do you think, that any one of my ideas might work?" asked Ginny sounding rather unsure of herself.

Sage was amazed by Ginny's rather creative ideas and serious thought process. Sure, he knew, that she wanted to find a cure for lycanthropy to help such pure individuals like Remus Lupin or reduce the side-effects her brother Bill had to endure, but he was truly impressed by her fast thought process and sane-sounding ideas. He couldn't believe that this young, imaginative woman was the same girl who had brewed her potions perfectly on the basis of the written book recipes without ever altering an ingredient, step or method herself. Sure, Ginny had only learned to experiment with her potions in the advanced classes, but it seems like a huge change in her brewing methods nonetheless. Although, if he regarded her creative mind in fashion and designs, it didn't seem too farfetched anymore. A creative mind would most likely act creatively in any area, even in Potions. Thence, her various ideas weren't that unexplainable. Certainly, some ideas couldn't work in reality, but he admired her for her courage to speak freely, without fears of sounding foolish or ridiculous, to him and share her first thoughts about his research impasse. It was another sign of the trust she placed in him and her high feelgood factor in his presence. She demonstrated him with her advice, that she regarded them as equal, intelligent partners, who shared their sorrows and good news openly, gave each other advice and tried to be there for each other without play-acting. A warm feeling spread through his body, his eyes sparkled with new hope and he kissed Ginny's hand in gratitude before he answered her with a reassuring smile.

"Wow, Ginny. Your ideas sound really promising. I would never have picked you for a Potions enthusiast, but it seems like your Potions Professor in Hogwarts did a really good job in educating you in the fine art of potion-making. You are right in your assumption, that we already thought about using venom of the fire-spitting Inyo toad, but it reacted negatively with the stuckweed and backfired on us. Perhaps, we could really try to isolate its virus killing information and transfer it highly-dosed into the werewolves body. That might actually work, although I still need to test it with my team and think about an ingredient or element that could isolate it. Your idea of the Hungarian Horntail Blood sounds obvious, but it doesn't work in reality because the blood would counteract the effects of the aconite and therefore render the Wolfsbane Potion ineffective. Hence, this isn't an option I'm going to research with my team.

In contrast, your idea of the Bloodroot seems quite ingenious because new articles in Potions' magazines suggest, that Bloodroot is the only known plant, whose extract can kill animal cells. Furthermore, the newest research proved, that it is possible to only attack evil virus cells with the Bloodroot extract if one uses a complex filtering spell and Pomegranate Juice. Therefore, it seems most likely, that these new research findings are our key to destroy the lycanthropy virus in the human organisms. And your brilliant idea about adding Honeywater and Octopus Powder into the mix to strengthen and stabilize the cure really seems quite promising, especially the addition of the Octopus Powder could work wonders. I'm not so sure about the Honeywater because it oftentimes doesn't interact positively with aconite. But I can promise you, that I will talk your ideas through with my team, start new research projects on the effects and characteristics of your mentioned potions ingredients and look into methods and techniques to filter different elements of one potions ingredient. Therefore, your ideas will come to fruition in our next research round and I'm quite positive, that your ideas will bring us a huge step closer to develop the cure.

If your ideas are the final brainwave to solve our issues with the Anti-Change Potion, I will naturally name you as one of my co-inventors and give you a percentage of our dealings. I can't believe, that my team and I never even considered to use an isolated part of the Bloodroot extract, that had been previously manipulated to only destroy the infectious lycanthropy virus. Sure, we thought about using it in the first place, discarded this idea hower quickly, because we were trapped in the delusion, that it would also destroy or kill the healthy cells. We overlooked, that its powers could be directed with the help of magic to only kill the virus while keeping the human cells intact. In retro perspective, it seems really quite embarrassing, that nobody in our team really thought our opportunities concerning Bloodroot over and never took the new methods to split ingredients into consideration. But I guess, that one sometimes overlooks easy answers in the search for special ideas. So, Ginny, I'm extremely grateful for your ideas because they really help us to think outside the box and develop new research paths. I'm already looking forward to discussing everything through with my team.

But now, enough from our talks about Potions. Rest assured, that you can always come to me with issues of your own. I will always listen to you and try to give some sound advice – as you did today. If you don't mind, we could finish our coffees and baked goods in let's say about fifteen minutes, chat about everything that comes to our minds, pay our bill and leave this charming café in favor of my Potions company – because I really want to show your new office to you – or my apartment – because I really want to spend some quality time with my beautiful, intelligent girlfriend. We could watch a movie there and get to know each other better. So, what do you wanna do? Inspect your new office or spend some time in my London apartment?" Severus asked Ginny with a heated glance from his obsidian eyes. He really hoped that she would choose his apartment because he wanted to touch her, caress her soft skin and kiss her lips.


	18. Chapter 17 - Turning up the heat!

_Author's note:_

 _Dear readers,_

 _thank you so much for your continued support. A special thanks to_ _ **Guest**_ _for his encouraging review. It really motivates me to write more. I wanted to apologize to you for my way to late update, but my other two stories and real life really kept me quite busy, sorry ;). Nonetheless, I plan to update this story weekly. It would really help me, to get some reviews with constructive criticism and general feedback. So, please, if you got some time to spare, review or write me a PM._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Vani12_

 **Chapter 17 – Turning up the heat!**

 _ **Café "Rose Garden", Muggle London, January 2000**_

Ginny smiled. It was so adorable, to see Sage squirm a little in his uncertainty and self-doubts. How could he have the absurd idea, that she would prefer to visit her new office over spending some quality time with him in his apartment? Sure, she did want to work on their planned working clotheslines as soon as possible and wanted to see her new office, but she also desperately wanted to spend some time with Sage alone. Merlin, Sage was her new, secret boyfriend, who seemed to couldn't wait to touch her, kiss her and make her happy. Ginny felt like diving into a fairytale world. When she gazed into Sage dark, onyx eyes, that sparkled with mischief, happiness, pride, and lust while looking at her, she couldn't help but feel like a sexy, powerful and desirable goddess. Her self-confidence skyrocketed, her heart kept thumping wildly and a warm feeling kept rushing through her body. Merlin, he could enchant her with one deep look out of his obsidian eyes. His touches sent electrifying shocks through her neural system. Never before in her life, had she felt so attracted to someone. And it wasn't only his darkly handsome looks, that made him out to be the most beautiful man on the entire planet in her eyes.

His charismatic character, gentle soul, and keen mind also drew Ginny to him. She wanted to get to know him even better, know his deepest secrets, happiest memories and greatest wishes because she wanted to spend her entire life with him, make him happy and live out everything with him. But now, Ginny only wanted to get inside his Londoner apartment as soon as possible and share some passionate kisses with him. At the very thought of this kisses, a new wave of lust and warmth began to overwhelm Ginny. She knew, that she most seem crazy because she didn't know Sage for more than a couple days, threw herself into a whirlwind romance with him and longed to touch him everywhere. Normally, Ginny didn't act this lust-driven and crazy. She didn't follow an attractive man, which she only met some days ago and decided to start dating, into his apartment to make out with him. Although Ginny had her teenage love affairs in Hogwarts with Deam Thomas and Michael Corner, that included heavy, sloppy snogging and hormone-driven make-out sessions in hidden alcoves, she had only slept with Harry so far because she wanted to lose her virginity to a boy, she loved with all her heart and could completely trust.

She had been sure, that Harry would never ridicule her for her looks, mock her for her sexual performance or brag about their sexual escapades to his male friends. He had loved her, and she had loved him so that they had sex for the first time three months after the Final Battle. Albeit Harry had tried to be gentle with her, she knew from dorm gossip, books, an awkward sex education talk with her mum and the obligatory sex education course in her fifth year in Hogwarts, that her first time would cause her much pain. And Harry, who had also lost his virginity to her in that night, hadn't really known what to do, had fumbled awkwardly around and focused too much on his own pleasure, to make the experience satisfying for her. Sure, she knew, that it wasn't likely for her to orgasm during her first time because Harry didn't have the stamina and experience to last long, but he had broken her hymen with one slow, grunted thrust and kept thrusting unrhythmically, painful and quick in and out of her for a few more times, before he shot his release deep into her. Thank Merlin, she had remembered to buy an Anti-Pregnancy Potion, that she needed to take once every month, ingested it before their planned first time, studied the wand movements and incantations of a Healing Spell, that was used to lessen the pain after one's first sexual intercourse, and Cleaning Spell, that would vanish her blood and their messes, so that she could numb the pain and clean herself from his semen.

Sure, they had embraced tightly, declared each other their love, exchanged passionate kisses and slept cuddled together but Ginny still had felt detached from herself, couldn't gaze Harry into his sparkling emerald eyes and wiped away some tears. Harry had interpreted her tears as happy tears or a sign of her overwhelming emotions, but Ginny had felt like a liar and cheat for lying in his comforting arms as well as mumbling some words of praise and love between sobs into Harry's ear because she didn't know, how she really felt. Merlin, in retrospective, Ginny realized that she could have sensed in this moment, that she and Harry weren't meant to be. Sure, everyone praised them as the perfect couple, she had dreamed of marrying Harry since she had been a shy eleven-year-old girl, and she knew, that one's first time wasn't most likely anything like the glorious, satisfying and amazing experience her romantic novels or Muggle movies made it out to be, but she hadn't expected to feel numb, in pain and awkward after it. If she was honest, she didn't feel the passion, deep connection and soul-bonding she had dreamed of feeling during sex.

Well, in the Magical world, sex before marriage was generally frowned upon, and although it was the 90s, parents expected from their sons and daughters – especially their daughters – to lose their virginity in their wedding night or with their one true love. Albeit most parents knew, partially from their own youth, that teenage hormones, the kick of doing something forbidden, the urge to explore each other's bodies and the fear of dying without ever experiencing sex during the war, drove their children to rush into sexual exploits, they nonetheless hoped, that they would share their first time with someone they loved and took care of pregnancy prevention. Then although children were a blessing in the Wizarding world, especially when they were magically strong, because the intermarriage between the oldest and noblest pure-blooded families, the numerous deaths of witches and witches during the Wizarding Wars and the low birthrate in the Wizarding World caused the Magical community to slowly become extinct, only pregnancies in engagements or marriages were welcomed. An unwedded, single mum was treated like a social outcast. Hence, birth control played such a big role and was taught in an obligatory class in the fifth year of Hogwarts.

Her mum had emphasized in her sex education talk, that Ginny ought to be sure about her first sexual experience, experience it with her true love and contracept because she shouldn't get pregnant from a boy, she didn't even like. And although Ginny didn't regret her first time with Harry, she nonetheless wished, that it would have been more mind-blowing for her. Sure, Harry had noticed after some time and coming down from his peak, that he hadn't satisfied Ginny sexually and apologized for his rushed orgasm. He even did make it up to her on the following morning by pleasuring her to her first not self-created orgasm via his hands, but she still didn't feel a deep connection with him. In a euphoria of experiencing sexual release, a need to forget the horrors of the war and numb her hurt feelings, Ginny engaged in desperate, rushed sex with Harry during the first months anyway so that she pushed her doubts away and basked in the amazing feeling of being close to her lover. But after the first frenzied months of their love affair, the lust to be intimate with Harry died out and their far-distance relationship – Harry trained 24/7 to become an Auror, Ginny studied in Hogwarts – let them lose themselves as a couple. They grew apart, lost their love and for nine months, they didn't even have sex together.

Ginny cleared her mind. She didn't want to dwell on the past. Sage wanted to spend some time with her in his apartment, and she desperately wanted to share some passionate kisses with him. Blushing pink, Ginny realized, that she was lost in her own mind for some minutes now. Merlin, Sage must think, that she was a dreaming, little dolt. Ginny rushed to answer his question, feeling embarrassed and dumb, in an enthusiastic voice. A little voice inside her head warned her to not mess it up or lay it on too thick.

"Sage, I would love to go home with you. Although I want to see my new office first thing on the next day, I want nothing more right now than to spend some alone time with you. So, thanks for this lovely date, let's pay and head to your Londoner apartment." Ginny looked into his gleaming obsidian eyes, squeezed his hand in gratitude and smiled at him.

Sage smiled at her, happiness pouring out of his onyx eyes, and answered in amusement. "Well, Ginny. It seems like your back from your dreamland", Sage laughed a little, heartfelt laugh, "But every jokes aside. I can't wait to kiss your luscious lips, get lost in your sparkling amber eyes and touch your soft skin. So, I will pay for our goods right now." Sage stood up, caressed her blushing cheek gently and walked to the counter to pay their bill.

He couldn't believe, that he would be able to spend some alone time with his beautiful, kind and amazing girlfriend. He shook his head disbelievingly, a huge smile graced his lips and he walked with a spring in his step. He was so happy, the happiest he ever was in his private life, and he couldn't wait to live out unique, happy and beautiful moments with her. He paid the waitress with some pleasantly exchanged words, gave her a huge tip and walked back to his beloved. He caressed her arm gently, turned her half around and helped her to stand up like a true gentleman with the charming words "A lovely witch like you deserves to be treated like a real princess" by taking her soft, porcelain and freckled hands and pulling her up gently.

Ginny gazed at him with adoration, uttered a breathless "Thanks, you're too sweet" and jumped with a beaming smile into his arms. They hugged in a tight embrace, breathing in the scents of each other and feeling their bodies closely. They basked in the body warmth of each other, caressed their backs gently and gazed each other happily into their eyes, piercing onyx meeting warm amber. A magical tension laid between them. Severus felt his blood rush through his veins, his skin tingled and his heart thumped wildly, as he felt Ginny's breast pressed against his muscular chest. He tried to keep a calm mind, suppress his urges and wish to devour Ginny's mouth. He wanted to share their first kiss in his apartment, therefore he stepped a little back, sighed longingly, clutched her hand tightly and left the café with the words "Come on. Let's get to my apartment". He couldn't believe how happy he was. Ginny was glad, that he broke off their tight embrace because she couldn't guarantee to not kiss him passionately in the middle of the Muggle café if he hadn't stepped back a little. His closeness, arousing scent and the skin contact with his ripped body had nearly been too much for her. She clasped his hand lovingly, intertwined their fingers and smiled at him. She couldn't believe how happy she was now.


End file.
